


Somebody Else

by seibelsays



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, Idiots in Love, Mutual Pining, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-08
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-01-25 06:27:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 35,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21351721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seibelsays/pseuds/seibelsays
Summary: Panic rooms. Explosions. Running for her life. It was a normal Tuesday at Avengers HQ. Which is, of course, how Darcy ended the day with a comatose fake fiancé.Or the While You Were Sleeping AU absolutely no one asked for.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Darcy Lewis
Comments: 968
Kudos: 1057
Collections: Marvel Fluff Bingo





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello friends! This story has been kicking around my head for awhile and finally decided to overrule everything else I have been working on. Hope you enjoy!

Darcy dug through the box, looking to see if anyone thought to include playing cards in the panic room supplies. 

Protein bar, first aid kit, handcuffs - handcuffs? Kinky. - but no playing cards.

Darcy sighed and pushed the box away, keeping the handcuffs in hand and twirling the key around on her finger.

“Why in the world do you have handcuffs?” Jane asked, looking up from the book Darcy had tossed her out of her own purse when her friend’s jitters had moved to just the wrong side of annoying. It was the only book Darcy had in her bag and she didn’t have anything else to occupy her time in the panic room, so she’d gone hunting through the supplies.

“Wanna find out?” Darcy teased, with an exaggerated waggle of her eyebrows. 

Jane laughed. “Maybe if the dinner beforehand wasn’t out of a black plastic package that was marked with an expiration date 20 years from now.”

Darcy shuddered at the memory. MRE’s were no one’s idea of a good meal.

“Found them in the kit. Maybe they’ll be useful.”

Jane’s brow furrowed. “How, exactly?”

Darcy shrugged. “If anyone gets in here, it would be harder for them to kidnap you if we’re handcuffed together.”

Jane gave Darcy a glare. “Okay, one. That’s probably not true. Two, if anyone got in here, we’d have bigger problems than a kidnapping. And three - you’re just as important as me these days. They could be coming after you. Handcuffing us together could make the theoretical kidnappers’ jobs that much easier _and_ hinder any escape we might attempt.”

Darcy shrugged again and slid the handcuffs into her purse, dropping the key in a small zippered pocket for safekeeping. “So we’re back to the kinky suggestions.”

_Knock._

_Knock knock._

_Knock._

Any reply Jane might have had died on her lips as they listened to the knocking at the panic room’s door. Darcy nodded to herself. “That was the correct cadence. It’s the good guys.” She crawled closer to the sealed entrance and gave two swift raps on the door in response.

_Knock. Knock. Knock._

“And that’s the all clear.” Darcy pulled herself to her feet, throwing her bag over her shoulder and crossing the strap across her body as she moved to the panel. Her hand hovered over the door release as she looked to Jane. “Ready?”

Jane stared down the door, gripping the spanner she’d grabbed as they ran from the lab and into the panic room. “Ready.”

Darcy hit the release, then aimed her taser at the door. Just because they’d had a successful code exchange and an all clear, didn’t mean that she believed it. Worst case, she tased Captain America in the face. He’d live.

She’d probably go to jail, but hey what else was new.

The door slowly rolled open to reveal a very tense James Barnes on the other side, his eyes constantly moving, as he stood in firing position. He barely glanced inside the room, keeping his eyes on their exit.

“Time to go,” he said, tersely.

Darcy pushed Jane ahead of her and pulled up the rear, keeping her taser at the ready. If Barnes was this tense, their “all clear” clearly wasn’t all that clear and Darcy wanted to be ready. Not that Barnes couldn’t handle whatever came their way far more effectively than she could. But still. She was helping. Probably.

They made their way through the hall, quickly and quietly. The alarms had been silenced, but the strobes were still going off, giving the entire floor a very distinct horror movie air. Darcy was probably going to have nightmares for weeks. 

Again, what else was new.

Barnes paused in front of the stairwell, one hand on the handle, the other on his gun. He glanced back at them, making eye contact with Darcy and pinning her with his gaze. 

“It’s not pretty in there, but it’s the best way out. Eyes on me the whole time, okay?” He paused, then added emphatically, “I am _going_ to get you out, but I can’t do that as quickly as I’d like if anyone gets sick.”

Jane tensed, but Darcy just nodded. “We’re good.”

He held Darcy’s gaze for another moment, then nodded and slowly opened the door, pausing to check that they were clear to exit. 

“Eyes on me,” he reminded, then led them into the stairwell.

Darcy was glad for his warning. Even doing as she was told and keeping her eyes on Barnes’ back the entire time, she caught glimpses of the carnage in the stairwell out of the corner of her eye. She was pretty sure she’d have disintegrated into a nonsensical puddle by now if he hadn’t given them the heads up. As it was, she was pretty sure she was going to have to burn her shoes, as there wasn’t enough bleach or soap in the world to scrub away whatever it was that she’d just stepped in.

After what felt like a small eternity, they reached the bottom of the stairs. Barnes led them into the garage and then quickly out a side entrance. Darcy had never been so happy to see clear blue sky.

“How’s everyone’s running?” Barnes asked.

“Terrible,” Jane muttered.

“Great,” Barnes’ voice was cheerful, but his expression still grim. “1000 meters to the treeline. You hear shots, you go faster, got it?” Barnes looked at Darcy. “Ready?”

She grimaced, but nodded. “Let’s get this over with.”

They sprinted for the trees. Well, Jane and Darcy “sprinted.” Darcy had a sneaking suspicion that Barnes could have outpaced them with a brisk walk, but he put a good face on it. He stuck behind him, covering their exit, just in case there were still any bad guys around who wanted to get one more shot in.

When they reached the trees, Jane kept going for a few yards, then picked a sturdy trunk to lean against as she caught her breath. Darcy stuck next to her, keeping her head up and her hand on her taser.

“Lewis,” a voice came from behind her.

Darcy spun around and clocked Clint Barton in the head with the butt end of her taser.

“Ow,” he gasped.

“Don’t do that!” she hissed. “The fuck is wrong with you?”

Barnes snorted quietly with laughter. “Nice shot, Lewis.”

“I’m going to go gray early because of you idiots,” she muttered and let her head thump back against the tree.

Clint winced and held a hand to his head to check for blood with a slightly annoyed glance at Darcy before he winked and gave her a grin. He lead Jane away, presumably towards the van hidden in the woods that would take them to a Quinjet that would whisk them to an undisclosed location.

Darcy sighed. What was her life.

“Thanks for the cover back there,” Barnes said, his words a little stilted.

“Huh?” 

He nodded at the taser in her hand. “The taser. You covered us.”

“Oh yeah, you really couldn’t have done it without me,” Darcy replied dryly. 

His answering grin was small, but genuine. “Good help is hard to find.”

Darcy gave him a withering glare and his grin grew a little in return. She wondered when she stopped being intimidating. Then again, this was a nice change from the usual murderous stare he usually had going and Darcy liked it. A lot.

Any other thoughts she might have about it she was absolutely going to attribute to the adrenaline.

Yep. All adrenaline. Gorgeous, gorgeous adrenaline.

_Get it together, Lewis._

Barnes shuffled his feet a little. “Listen, um. After we get out of here, and. You know. Debrief.” He winced a little at that, but kept talking. “When things aren’t so crazy. I...was wondering if maybe -”

“TAKE COVER!”

Barnes jumped at her, knocking her off her feet and covering her with his body just as a huge explosion went off to their left. He caged her head with his arms and ducked his head towards her as rubble fell and bounced off his back. He grunted softly as what must have been a particularly large rock hit him.

She felt his arms falter slightly and the air was pushed out of her lungs as his full weight collapsed on top of her.

“Barnes,” she gasped. “Barnes!” He didn’t reply. She risked opening her eyes and realized he had been knocked out.

“Bucky! Darcy!” Clint yelled, running over to them. “Shit! Hold on guys, just hold on!”

Darcy felt her vision going fuzzy. “Bucky…” she breathed, and then promptly passed out.


	2. Chapter 2

Darcy blinked awake. She was...where the hell was she? There was a slight throbbing in her head as her eyes adjusted to the light in the room, but it faded quickly. She slowly looked around as the memory of the day came rushing back.

Right. The lab was infiltrated. She and Jane had to run for the panic room. Barnes had gotten them out, had been really careful to make sure they didn’t see more of the carnage than was absolutely necessary. They ran for the woods. Then the explosion.

Darcy blew out a breath and took stock of herself. No pain, no mental fuzziness. She slowly sat up, taking note of her IV and doing her best not to pull at it. Leaning over, she checked the IV pole - from where she was sitting it looked like simple saline. Made sense - she had probably been dehydrated anyway after sitting in the panic room for however many hours. She leaned forward slowly, inching towards the foot of the bed and scrabbling with her fingers for her chart. A twinge of pain in her back made her pause, but it was more sore muscles and a need to stretch than anything else. 

Finally her fingers snagged the clip holding the chart to the bed and she pulled it into her lap. Flipping through, there didn’t look to be anything wrong with her.

Sweet. That meant she could get the hell out of here.

She carefully removed the IV and crawled out of bed, trying not to think of how many times she’d done this that she knew _how_ to do it. Her shoes and bag were conveniently on the chair in the corner. How thoughtful. Darcy slipped into her shoes, threw her bag over her shoulder, and was out the door before anyone noticed she was awake.

She was halfway down the hall before she remembered one of the nurses complaining about how much paperwork was involved when anyone left without at least checking in at the desk to say they were leaving without being cleared by the doctors. She groaned internally and turned back around, heading for the nurses station. Paperwork was a bitch. She would be a bigger one if she intentionally caused more of it for someone else.

“Hey hey. Darcy Lewis. I’m awake, I’m alive, I’m getting the hell out of here,” she said to the nurse behind the counter.

“Uh huh,” the nurse said, barely registering Darcy’s presence. “Hey Laura!” she yelled. “Cap’s due in 10!”

The statement confused her. Steve hadn’t been at the site. Not that she’d seen anyway. Barnes had gotten them out, Clint handled cleanup. She hadn’t seen Steve anywhere. That didn’t mean that he hadn’t been there, of course, but he and his obnoxiously patriotic uniform were generally hard to miss. Had there been another incident somewhere else? Darcy’s blood ran cold at the thought. Most of the other labs weren’t nearly as well outfitted as the one she and Jane had been in - if this wasn’t just a one off...if this had been some sort of coordinated attack...Maybe she was better off staying put.

Or running for her life and handing in her resignation via carrier pigeon. It was a toss up, really.

There was a rush of movement behind Darcy as a medical team scrambled past. She flattened herself against the counter as the team rushed to the elevator. As she leaned back, she could hear the nurse muttering into the phone.

“-just get here! They’ll be all over him the minute he lands. We’ll only have a few minutes at most to deliver the sedative and move him to a HYDRA facility.” The nurse was silent as she listened to the voice on the other end of the line. “This might be our one and only chance at grabbing Steve Rogers. Don’t fuck it up.”

Darcy ducked away from the counter before the nurse looked up again and hid around the corner. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and tapped in a few commands that she’d hidden into the OS ages ago - commands that gave her a direct line into FRIDAY’s databanks. Everything the Stark AI knew, Darcy would know in just a few seconds.

“Thanks past me,” she muttered as she pulled up the latest information from the medical wing.

Steve Rogers was listed as critical - he’d taken a nasty hit and was broken basically everywhere, far more than the serum could handle quickly or all at once. He’d recover, but would be slow about it.

“Shit,” she muttered, glancing around. Most of the Avengers had been busy pulling her and the other scientists out of the upstate lab. She didn’t know where they’d all run off to in the aftermath, if anyone was even in the med wing currently that she could trust with this information. If this was a coordinated attack on multiple sites, probably not. She tapped in a few more commands to pull up Steve’s file, scanning the information quickly to find what she was looking for.

_Emergency Contact: James Barnes_

“Double shit,” she muttered again. Steve was down for the count, the other Avengers were MIA, and the last time she’d seen Barnes he’d been unconscious. 

Her finger hovered over Barnes’ name. She couldn’t do it. Could she? She _had_ to. Didn’t she?

With a soft grunt of frustration, she tapped the name.

_Emergency Contact: <strike>James Barnes</strike> Darcy Lewis_

_Relationship: Brother_

Darcy paused, chewing on her lip. As hilarious as it was that Steve had listed Barnes has his brother, she couldn’t exactly claim to be family, now could she? What would she claim? Granddaughter? Please.

Only one thing for it then.

_Relationship: <strike>Brother</strike> Fiancée_

“Don’t kill me when you wake up,” she muttered. “Either one of you.” She saved the changes and counted to ten, then turned back around the corner and approached the desk.

“Hi,” she said, with a chipper smile plastered on her face. “Where will they be taking Steve?”

The nurse narrowed her eyes at Darcy. “Ms. Lewis-”

“Doctor Lewis,” Darcy corrected automatically. She hadn’t poured all of her effort into getting the damn degree for people not to respect the title.

The nurse glared at her, but corrected herself. “Doctor Lewis. You aren’t supposed to be out of bed.”

“I’m fine. Where will they be taking Steve?”

“I’m not going to tell you that,” the nurse replied flatly.

Darcy narrowed her eyes into the iciest glare she could manage while panicking internally. “Actually you are.” She flicked her eyes down to the nurse’s ID badge. “Nurse Hawley.”

Hawley raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Oh really?”

“Check the file,” Darcy said, as though this conversation were boring her. “And make it snappy. He’s landing any second and I want to be there.”

Hawley rolled her eyes, but pulled up Steve’s file. Darcy managed to not to stand on her tiptoes to read the screen over the nurse’s shoulder, but it was a near thing.

Hawley’s eyebrows shot into her hairline. _Bingo._

“Um. Sorry. I didn’t know.” Her lips pressed into a thin line so tight, Darcy was briefly concerned she was going to break something.

“It’s cool,” Darcy said, her tone just this side of icy. “Where is he?”

The nurse grit her teeth and gave Darcy a room number. Darcy took off in the direction of the elevators, but immediately changed course for the stairs once she was out of view of the nurses station. Steve would be two flights up and she needed to be there when they brought him in. That still gave whoever was working with the nurse time to drug him, but hopefully not enough time to sneak him out - especially now that the nurse knew Darcy was looking for Steve and on her way to him.

As she hit the landing, Darcy had a fleeting thought that Hawley gave her the wrong info to throw her off. It would be easy to smile and say “whoops, last second change!” if Darcy were to confront her about it - and in the meantime, Steve would be gone, taken by HYDRA and never seen again. Or worse - seen, but as a HYDRA puppet, deployed against everyone they loved.

She scrambled for her phone to pull up Steve’s record again when movement caught her eye.

“Bob!” Darcy hissed.

The agent commonly known as Hydra Bob stopped his pacing and jumped at little at the look on Darcy’s face. She immediately tried to tamp down her emotions - Bob was twitchy at the best of times. Best not to scare him off now.

“D-Doctor Lewis?” Bob said.

“Were you on Avenger detail today?”

“Yes,” Bob replied slowly. 

“Which Avenger?”

Bob shifted, uncomfortably. “Um, you know I can’t-”

“Was it Steve?” Darcy interrupted.

“How did you-”

“Where are they taking him?”

“Wait, how do you know-”

“NO TIME BOB!” Darcy snapped, a little louder than she meant to. 

Bob jumped again and she resolved to buy him coffee later as an apology.

“3602!” Bob squeaked.

Darcy growled a little under her breath and spun back to the stairs. 

“Thanks Bob!” she yelled over her shoulder.

“Um...anytime?”

Darcy used her anger to fuel her steps. That _fucking_ nurse gave her the wrong floor. She should have known - the 36th floor _was_ the Avengers floor. She could save the self-recrimination for later, however. For now, she focused on sprinting up the steps, vowing with every breath that if she ever got out of this, she’d start hitting the gym, and made it up an additional four stories in record time.

She threw open the door and ran into the hall. She skidded to a stop in front of the first room she saw, looking around quickly for the number. 

3606 - too far down. 

Just as she went to turn back the other way, she caught a glimpse inside the room through the open door. Barnes was lying on the bed, still unconscious. 

Ice filled her veins as panic spread through her. If they were coming for Steve and couldn’t get him, what would stop them from going after Barnes instead? Could she change the emergency info for Barnes too? What would she list herself as? 

_One fake fiancé at a time, Lewis! Help Steve, then help Barnes!_

Barnes jolted awake, his eyes flying open. “Darcy!” he muttered.

“James,” a low voice came from the corner of the room. Natasha must have been waiting for him to wake up. Thank heavens - Darcy could protect Steve, Nat could protect Barnes. 

Barnes groaned and settled back onto his pillow. “Nat,” he acknowledged.

Without waiting for anything else, Darcy turned and sprinted in the direction of 3602, arriving just as Steve was being wheeled inside. She glared at Nurse Hawley who stared at her in shock, then addressed the room.

“Hi. I’m Steve’s fiancée. What the hell happened?”


	3. Chapter 3

“So.”

“So.”

Darcy looked around the hospital room and tried not to squirm under the scrutiny of Sam Wilson. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Sam - far, far from it. She adored Sam and would trust him with her life - _had_ trusted him with her life on more than one occasion. But that damn HYDRA nurse was sitting in the corner looking exceptionally smug and Darcy _could not_ afford to crack under the pressure.

By the looks of things, Steve’s life might depend on it.

“You and Steve, huh?”

Darcy couldn’t quite meet his eyes. “Sam-”

“No, I get it,” he interrupted. “I do. Steve’s life has been lived very publicly for a long time. It makes sense that he’d want to keep something for himself. I’m happy for you both.” A small, smug smile crept across his face. “I had been hinting he should ask you out for awhile, actually. I didn’t realize he was that good of an actor.”

Darcy’s brain flatlined at the thought. Steve Rogers was her friend - she’d never, not once, thought of him as more. Until this absurd situation came up, anyway. The idea that anyone who knew them was actively trying to push them together? Did not compute. Steve was....well, for all that she adored her friend, Steve Rogers was just a little _too much_ for her taste. 

That thought needed to go away quickly, however. She had a part to play.

“Well, he was in all those war bond propaganda movies back in the day,” Darcy offered weakly.

“Has he let you see those?!” Sam yelped. “Man, I’ve been angling to get my eyes on those for ages.”

Steve had not, incidentally, let Darcy see those movies. She had never spoken to him about them. She was just really good at locating things on the internet.

“Significant other privileges, I guess,” Sam laughed, oblivious to Darcy’s unease.

“Yep. Exactly. So how is he?” she asked quickly, trying to change the subject.

Sam looked to the nurse with a sigh. “Pretty banged up. How long did you say he was going to be out?”

“A few days, at least,” Nurse Hawley bit out. “You all should really go home and get some rest yourself. He’s in good hands here.”

Darcy hopped up onto the bed and scootched back until she was practically leaning against Steve’s legs. “I’m good. I’ll stay.” She pinned the nurse with a glare. If this woman thought it would be that easy to get Steve alone for one minute, she had another thing coming.

“On a lumpy hospital bed. That’s love right there,” Sam grinned at her.

The nurse’s nostrils flared slightly, but she kept a pleasant smile on her face. “Hospital regulations-”

“SAM!” Barnes burst into the room and skidded to a stop. “What the hell happened?”

“Your boy got shot three times, then fell off a 40 story building,” Sam said with a weary sigh. “Knocked his head pretty good on the way down. And then tried to get up and got himself stabbed in the process.”

Barnes looked towards the ceiling with a long suffering grimace for a few seconds. The way his chest moved, Darcy would guess he was counting his breaths to try to keep his cool and not yell at everyone in sight. It was fascinating to watch really, although Darcy suspected if he weren’t so concerned about Steve, he never would have let her see it.

Finally, Barnes returned his attention to Sam. “And what’s the-” He stopped and stared straight at Darcy. “Lewis?” he asked, his brow furrowing.

_MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY._ “Uh. Hi,” she said, with a little wave.

“You know, I can’t believe you didn’t tell me,” Sam said to Barnes. “I thought we were friends.” He shook his head. “Not cool, man. Not cool.”

“Uh, Sam-” Darcy started.

“Tell you what?” Barnes asked, his confusion clear.

“That Steve and Darcy are engaged!” Sam exclaimed happily. “‘Bout time Steve got himself a life, right?”

Barnes froze. “Steve...what?”

Sam looked at Darcy accusingly.

She shrugged, helpless. “No one knew.” _Including the groom._

“Darcy?” Barnes asked again, his voice barely a whisper this time. Then he blinked, cleared his throat, and his expression shuttered. “Right. So. That’s why I’m guessing I didn’t get the call? They called you instead?” 

Darcy’s stomach sank at the cold indifference in Barnes’ eyes. Fuck, she really didn’t think this through. Why didn’t she think of what would happen when Barnes work up?

Oh right. She’d had no way of knowing when or even if he’d wake up. Saving Steve was the mission. There hadn’t been time to consider much else.

“I’m Steve’s emergency contact,” Darcy mumbled. “I’m sorry, I didn’t-”

“It’s fine,” Barnes said. “Well. Looks like you’ve got this handled. I’ll just…” he motioned to the door and quickly saw himself out.

“Fuuuuuuuuck,” Darcy swore under her breath, drawing her knees up and ducking her head to them. If she curled up into a small enough ball, maybe all of this would disappear. She ignored the way Nurse Hawley’s beady little eyes were drinking in the scene and probably plotting how to get Darcy away from Steve. If Darcy was stubborn and refused to move, it would be okay. She could repair the rest of her life after this was all over.

Or move to Antarctica. Maybe she could take Thor up on being an Asgardian ambassador. The point was that she had _options_.

Sam looked at her with sympathy. “Hey, don’t sweat it. He’s going to be thrilled for you guys, once he gets his head out of his ass.” He shrugged. “It’s a surprise to us all, you know? And Barnes...well, you know. He doesn’t do surprises.”

“I know that?” Darcy muttered, flippant.

Sam chuckled. “Outside of Steve, you’re probably closest to him. It’s why I figured he knew about you and Steve.”

That. What? Darcy was learning all sorts of things about how the Avengers thought of her today and she was in no state to process any of it.

“This wasn’t what I meant to happen,” she groaned into her knees.

“I know. It’s okay.” Sam looked to Nurse Hawley, who continued to narrow her eyes at Darcy, and motioned to the door. “Let’s get out of her hair, so they both can rest.”

The nurse flushed. “Oh well, I-”

“Sam, actually, could you-” Darcy’s voice faltered at Hawley’s glare.

_Steve. Steve is in danger. Mission focus, Lewis!_

She squared her shoulders and returned the nurse’s glare. “Stay with Steve for a minute while I call Jane?”

Sam nodded. “Anything you need, Darce.”

Darcy quickly slipped out of the room before the nurse could object and stop her. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and tapped Jane’s number. Two rings and then Jane’s frantic voice came on the line.

_“Darcy! Where are you? After I got discharged, I went to find you, but you were gone!”_

“Yeah, I know. I’m good.” Darcy winced. “Well. No, I’m not, but it’s a long story. Can you throw together an overnight bag for me and meet me on Med Level 3? Room 3602.”

_“Med Level - Darcy, that’s the Avengers level.”_

“Yeah, Jane. I know.”

_“Did you get hit with another neurotoxin?”_

“No Jane.”

_“Was anyone de-aged again?”_

“No Jane.”

_“Please tell it’s not sex pollen,”_ Jane said. _“Oh! Although, that would mean that Barnes could finally-”_

“No!” Darcy interrupted. “Jane, it’s not sex pollen. Cheese and rice, woman, get it together.”

_“Did-”_

“Jane,” Darcy interrupted again. “Look, I have to get back in there, but I’m probably not going to be able leave, so could you help a girl out?”

_“Sure Darcy. But what the hell happened?”_

“Long story, Jane. I’ll see you when you get here?”

_“Yeah, give me about an hour.”_

“Great. See you then.” Darcy ended the call, then slipped the phone back into her pocket. She ran for the ladies room, as this was likely her last chance to use it for awhile. She splashed some water on her face, then looked at herself in the mirror.

“You can do this,” she muttered. “You can totally do this.”

She made her way back to 3602 and settled in to wait for Jane. Sam looked up at her.

“Feeling any better?”

“Sure,” Darcy replied abscently. “As good as can be, I guess.”

Sam nodded. “These situations are always hard. But Steve’s a fighter. He’s been through - well, you know all that already.” Sam grinned. “And now he has you! He’ll be up and around in no time.”

Darcy tried to smile, but suspected it looked more like a grimace. How had she gotten herself into this mess again?

Oh right. Saving Steve from being kidnapped by HYDRA. 

The hero business sucked. Darcy would bet good money that Natasha didn’t have these problems.

An alarm blared from Sam’s phone. He peered at it with a frown.

“Here we go again,” he muttered, then looked to Darcy. “Callout. Looks like the same guys who attacked your lab.”

“Joy,” Darcy said.

“You’ll be fine here,” Sam reassured. “If anyone gets close, the hospital will lock down and get an alert to us.”

“Wait - is _everyone_ going?” That was either really good or really bad. Really good, because that was that many fewer trained spies and assassins she had to lie to until this whole mess was over. Really bad, because then she really _was_ Steve’s last line of defence. Who was to say it wasn’t just a ruse to get anyone with any actual training away and distracted, leaving her as an easy target and only a minor obstacle between Steve and people who would do him harm.

“Everyone who’s here. Well, except Bucky - he’s not cleared for duty after the incident this afternoon. He’ll be around.”

Well then. Icing on the cake. The only person she would have to deal with was only _Steve’s best friend since childhood_. The man who’s friendship with Steve was so strong it broke 70 years of brainwashing. They’d practically overthrown entire governments for each other - how the hell was she supposed to pull this off again?

Barnes was already pissed about the whole thing. Maybe he’d just avoid them altogether unless shit hit the fan.

But if shit really hit the fan - 

_Stop it._

“Okay,” Darcy replied and forced another smile on her face. “Be safe.”

“Not sure I can promise that one, but I’ll do my best,” Sam said. He threw her a sloppy salute and then was gone, leaving her alone.

Well. Alone, save one unconscious Steve Rogers. Her brand new, fake fiancé.

Just another Tuesday.


	4. Chapter 4

Left right. Left. Left left right. Uppercut. Jab. Jab cross.

Inhale. Exhale. 

Repeat.

Bucky hit the heavy bag again and again, ignoring the burn in his muscles and the ominous creaking from both the bag and the chains that suspended it. The twinge was a small distraction from the thoughts swirling through his head that he absolutely did not want to entertain. Usually he was better at shutting down destructive or hurtful lines of thought before they could take root in his soul, but this one would just not leave him alone.

Hence the heavy bag abuse.

To be fair, he’d been at it for 4 hours and he’d only broken three bags.

_ping_

_SNAP._

_CRASH!_

Bucky jolted back as the bag broke free and hit the floor, twisting so the recently unburdened chain didn’t smack him in the face.

Make that four bags.

The music blasting from the overhead speakers reentered his consciousness and he closed his eyes for a moment to lose himself to the heavy beat. Then he sighed and reached down to pick up the bag, inspecting the damage. It wasn’t too bad, he could fix this one. He dragged it to the side, keeping it separate from the others that there was no hope of saving. He grabbed a new bag and took it back to hang it.

He closed his eyes again, letting the guitar riff settle into his bones. 

_Slamming doors_  
_I’m here but I’m trapped inside_  
_The darker shades of grey roll through my head_

Inhale. Exhale.

Repeat.

He opened his eyes and started his punches again, throwing combos to the beat of the music and losing himself in the rhythm of it all. 

It wasn’t the secret that bothered him. Well - it wasn’t only the secret that bothered him. Steve was entitled to his privacy, and heaven knew that Bucky had plenty of his own secrets that he kept from everyone, including - and sometimes especially - Steve. But those were usually of the “here’s where the bodies are buried” or “where Bucky’s cash actually came from” variety. 

This? Steve finding someone special and allowing himself to get serious about it, all while hiding it from Bucky? That burned.

The fact that it was someone Bucky knew and was already friends with stung more. Two people he trusted had been hiding this from him. Bucky could count on one hand the number of people he trusted and if two of those number had done broken that trust, what did that say for the others?

_I was safe_  
_I was brave_  
_Until the sky collapsed on me_  
_Can you hear the thunder in my chest?_  
_Can you feel how heavy lies the air?_  
_Let it fall_  
_Let it brawl_  
_And let it all be swallowed by the storm_  
_Can you hear the thunder in my chest?_  
_Rain down on me_  
_Rain down on me_

Jab jab CROSS.

The bag swung back in matching momentum as the power behind his hit increased with his agitation and Bucky forced himself to dial it back a little. Five broken bags would match Steve’s record for one session and losing that particular piece of ammunition just wouldn’t do.

Rationally, he knew that Steve and Darcy’s relationship had _absolutely nothing_ to do with him. Who they told - or didn’t tell - was their business alone, as were the reasons they had for doing so. 

Maybe - _maybe_ \- Bucky’s hurt was actually...embarrassment. In the hard won privacy of his own mind, he could admit the possibility that his strong reaction to the revelation Steve and Darcy’s relationship had less to do with the fact that the relationship existed and more to do with his own feelings for Darcy. He’d made little effort to hide his affection for her from Steve, who had never commented one way or the other his thoughts on the matter. 

Maybe that was why, when Bucky had been attempting to pluck up the courage to finally do something about his feelings and ask Darcy to dinner, Steve had only chuckled.

_“You, asking me for dating advice? This must be a different universe.”_

Why hadn’t Steve discouraged him? Or better - used his damn words and actually _told_ him?

Nothing about this situation made any sense at all.

Did...did Steve think Bucky wasn’t recovered enough to introduce this kind of change? No, that was absurd - Steve had cleared him for Avengers work. Steve wouldn’t risk his team - or the people they protect - if he didn’t think Bucky was recovered enough to handle it. So, that left only one other option that Bucky could think of. Steve didn’t trust Bucky after everything he’d done. All the pain and destruction he’d wrought while under HYDRA’s control must have shaken Steve’s faith in him, once Steve had someone special he wanted to protect. But that thought didn’t quite fit either.

Maybe Bucky didn’t know Steve as well as he thought.

_Don’t want to admit to myself_  
_This can’t just be in my head_

A new guitar riff slammed through the speakers and Bucky threw himself into a new combo, adding in a spinning right backhand.

_I was safe_  
_I was brave_  
_Until the sky collapsed on me_

“BARNES!” Sam yelled as the music picked up again.

Bucky turned and blew the bit of hair that fell over his face out of his eyes. He jerked his head in an approximation of a nod at Sam, then pulled off one glove and paused the music.

Sam stared at him. “How’s it goin’?” he said cautiously.

Bucky rolled his eyes. “I’m fine, Sam.”

Sam glanced pointedly at the pile of broken heavy bags off to the side. Bucky ignored him.

“When’d you get back?”

It was Sam’s turn to roll his eyes, but he indulged Bucky. “About an hour ago. Just a refuel and resupply - we’re heading back out in two hours.”

Bucky gave him a hard look, searching the other man’s expression. “You find the bastards who started all this?”

“Not yet. Still little branches. We’re playing catch up on this one.”

Bucky ripped his gloves off in disgust. “And I’m sidelined.”

“Buck-”

“You think you’re close?” Bucky interrupted, throwing his gloves to the side, where they landed with a _thwap_ next to his duffle bag. “They launched a coordinated attack at four Avengers-affiliated labs.”

“I know.”

“They tried to kidnap Doctor Foster.”

“I know.”

“Steve was shot off a damn building.”

“_I know_,” Sam replied again. “Look, I get that this is frustrating, but you took a nasty hit to the head and you’re not cleared for duty.”

“I need to do _something_, Sam.”

A slow smile crept across Sam’s face. “Darcy hasn’t left the hospital, you know.”

Bucky turned away from Sam and started pulling at the boxing wrap on his right hand. “What of it?”

“You need to do something, you could see if she needs anything? Maybe offer to take a shift sitting at Steve’s bedside so she can get a real night’s sleep?”

Bucky didn’t reply, just finished unwrapping his hand and tossed the sweat-soaked material to join his gloves.

“I don’t have time go look in on them myself and I sure as hell don’t have time to hold your hand on this. I get it, I really do. This whole thing - Steve’s injury, finding out that he’d been hiding something this big from all of us. It’s a lot. But Darcy needs our support right now. They both do, so we have to get over ourselves and stop being so dramatic.”

“Do we?” Bucky muttered.

Sam rolled his eyes. “You have thirty minutes to decide where you’re picking up take out for Darcy or I’m asking Bob to do it. Bob adores Darcy, he’ll jump at the chance.” He waited a moment, then turned away and headed for the door.

“Maybe he should,” Bucky muttered.

“Thirty minutes, Barnes,” Sam replied.

Bucky turned toward him. “Sam,” he called. “Stay safe out there.”

Sam turned back and nodded. “I’ll see you soon. Go see Darcy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song is "Glasshouse" by Hands Like Houses and it is excellent to box to.


	5. Chapter 5

Darcy’s heavy eyelids fluttered closed again as her head dipped forward. She snapped her neck back with a soft gasp and quickly scanned the room.

Okay, so sitting up all night wasn’t the greatest idea ever.

She glanced at her watch and winced. 3AM. Jane had been due to arrive with her bag hours ago and Darcy had the sinking suspicion that she had yet another breakthrough at the lab and wasn’t coming. She groaned softly and thumped her head back against the wall. 

Falling asleep wasn’t really an option was it? What was to keep the HYDRA nurse from running in, kidnapping Steve while Darcy dozed away? She glanced over at the unconscious man, blissfully unaware of what was going on around him. That hospital bed was looking mighty comfy, even if she would be squished against the side rail.

Which is how Darcy knew she must be very tired indeed.

She rubbed at her eyes. It didn’t matter - even if she crawled in next to him, there would be nothing stopping someone from kidnapping Steve anyway. She had to watch the door.

Unless.

Darcy grabbed her bag from the floor and dug through it. 

“Come on, come on. Where are you?” she muttered. Her eyes lit up as she hit paydirt. “Bingo,” she whispered. “Take that, Janey.”

Darcy slowly crept out of her chair and made her way over to the bed. “Sorry, Steve. I promise, I’ll buy you the biggest pizza you’ve ever laid eyes on when this is all over to make up for it.” She crawled in next to him, careful not to dislodge his IV and very careful not to think too hard about how much of a violation of trust it was to snuggle up like this without his consent. When she was settled, she grabbed his wrist and fastened the handcuff around it. Once secure, she attached the other side to her own wrist and quickly stuffed the key in her bra. She shivered a little as the cold metal touched her skin, but the discomfort faded quickly enough. She arranged their positions, so that the handcuffs couldn’t be seen by any passerby who might look in on them. Assured she’d done all she could to thwart HYDRA’s attempts to kidnap him, and using that to reassure herself that it only made her like 75% creepy, Darcy closed her eyes and fell fast asleep.

* * *

Bucky slowly climbed the steps to the 36th floor, relishing in the burn of his muscles as he ascended. He might have enhanced healing and stamina, but climbing 36 flights of stairs was still going to hurt - if only for a little while. 

He needed the distraction, no matter how momentary. Recent events had turned his world on its head and no number of broken heavy bags was going to put it to rights again.

Steve was engaged. Steve was engaged and _hadn’t told him_. Hadn’t provided one single, solitary clue that he was even seeing anyone, let alone serious about it.

Sure, maybe they weren’t as close as they used to be. That was normal - people grew apart. Add in all of the not-normal shit they’d gone through in their too long lives and it only made sense that they weren’t living in each others pockets anymore.

But. Still. It hurt. Just a little. He was secure enough to admit that. In his own head, anyway.

He pulled open the door and turned to find Steve’s room, eyes scanning the empty hall in the early morning quiet. 6AM was well before visiting hours, but he really couldn’t be bothered to give a damn. Breaking his last heavy bag hadn’t quieted his mind in the slightest and sleep had eluded him despite his extended workout. He figured he should take Sam’s words to heart and focus on what Steve needed right now and torture himself later.

He supposed he could understand Steve’s rationale. It was dangerous to be associated with the Avengers - Captain America in particular. Sure, they all had their own little cadre of would-be villains always looking for a way to get under their armor. But everyone knew that Tony Stark had world-class security around Pepper. Everyone knew that Natasha Romanoff had no family, beyond that which she’d gathered in the Avengers - all of whom could most definitely take care of themselves. Him? He had no one, save Steve, and the world knew it. The world expected it.

But Steve had always held himself just outside the rest of the group. Just enough to pretend like he was still normal every once in awhile. He maintained that apartment over on 8th Avenue, and while it was heavily fortified, it at least gave the illusion of normalcy. And with no one actively tracking the comings and goings of any of Steve’s visitors - or of nights spent away from his apartment - it would have been easy enough to pretend for ages that he didn’t have anyone special. For their own protection.

He paused just outside the door to Steve’s room. Inside, curled into his best friend’s side, was Darcy; fast sleep and looking for all the world like she wouldn’t rather be anywhere else. She looked content and happy, even sleeping in a cramped hospital bed, pushed against the side rail.

Maybe that was why Steve never said anything. Because it was _Darcy_. Darcy, who of anyone, treated him like he was normal. Like he was worth something. Like everything that she knew about his history didn’t matter, because she knew him now and that was enough.

Add in the sparkle in her eyes and the tiny bit of magic she created in her everyday life and Bucky had been just a bit smitten since the day they met.

The thought burned.

He hesitated at the entrance. What the hell was he even doing here in the first place? Steve didn’t need him. Steve was unconscious. 

Steve also already had someone sitting vigil at his bedside. 

_Someone who is also your friend._

He tried and failed to shush that particular voice in his head. He should also really move before someone realized that he was just standing here, watching them sleep.

Before he could turn to walk away, Darcy stirred awake, blinking furiously with a slight groan. Bucky felt like an enormous creep watching her wake up, but couldn’t bring himself to do anything else. 

She rubbed her eyes and reached for her glasses, which were on the rolling hospital bed tray off to the side. She pushed them in place and blinked a few more times with a tired sigh, then her eyes focused on the door where he was standing.

“Hey,” she said quietly, her voice still raspy with sleep.

“Hi,” he replied, just as soft.

“Glad you’re up and about again,” she said with a soft smile. “I was worried.”

_Why did you have to tell me that?_

“No need,” he said stiffly, “I’m a fast healer.”

Darcy’s smile grew and turned a little wry. “Yeah well, it’s not every day a fast-healing super soldier passes out on top of me, so. After knocking me out of the path of an explosion, I might add. Didn’t get a chance to say thanks for that.”

“‘Snothing,” he insisted.

“It’s not nothing, though,” Darcy argued. “Not to me.”

“Whatever you say, Lewis,” he muttered. 

“So…” Darcy smiled. “You gonna let me say thank you?”

“No.” He didn’t really mean to sound so sharp. It just sort of happened that way.

Darcy blinked, but otherwise hid however she might have felt about that answer fairly well. She reached up to adjust her glasses, but stopped short and scrambled to cover her wrist with the cover again.

Bucky hadn’t missed it though. 

“Are you...handcuffed...to Steve?”

Darcy groaned. “Long story,” she muttered.

“I’ve got nothin’ but time.”

Darcy glared at the ceiling. “None of your business then?”

“Look, that’s my best friend you’re handcuffed to there!”

“I’m aware,” Darcy ground out. She turned her glare on him and suddenly, he was questioning everything.

She was Steve’s fiancée. Steve wasn’t his responsibility anymore. So much as he ever was, anyway.

“Fine,” Bucky spat. He turned to go.

A soft sob reached his ears. “Barnes,” Darcy whispered.

He stopped short with a sigh. She was Steve’s fiancée. No matter how he felt about the situation, he better start getting used to it and getting over it, if he wanted to stay in Steve’s life at all in the future.

And it was Darcy. He didn’t want to lose her friendship. Not over something as inconsequential as his own broken heart. 

He turned back around to face her. “You take cream in your coffee, right?”

Her eyes widened in surprise, then she nodded.

“I’ll go get us some coffee and be back in a few. You want food or anything?”

She sighed with what sounded like relief. “You would be my favorite person in the universe.”

Bucky nodded at Steve. “Second favorite, surely.”

Darcy gave him a confused look, then glanced down at Steve. “Right,” she said. Then she gave Bucky a wry grin. “I haven’t eaten since before the lab lockdown. I won’t tell him if you don’t.”

“So I have to buy your breakfast _and_ commit an act of subterfuge to be your favorite person temporarily? That’s a hefty price,” his teasing tone making an appearance without his permission. It was too easy to fall into this pattern with her, her own teasing tone ever present.

“Worth it though.”

“Yeah,” he breathed. “It is.” He cleared his throat. “I’ll be back in a bit.”

“I’ll be here.”

He turned again to leave. 

_What the hell are you doing, Barnes? There’s nothing but heartbreak down this road._

He glanced back over his shoulder and Darcy gave him a wave. He waved back. 

It didn’t matter. He was destined for heartbreak no matter what he did anyway.

* * *

Darcy watched Barnes turn the corner, then she scrambled to dig the handcuff keys out of her bra. She mentally kicked herself for forgetting herself and letting Barnes see that she’d handcuffed herself to Steve and then gave herself another mental kick for getting into this situation in the first place.

And what exactly were they going to do when Barnes got back? It was unlikely he would just drop the coffee off and leave. She was going to have to maintain this charade for however long he decided to hang around - that could be all day.

_Think Lewis!_

She unlocked the handcuff and rubbed her wrist as she took a good look around the room. What was the likelihood it was bugged? Could she risk letting Barnes know the real story - that she and Steve weren’t actually engaged, but there was a larger HYDRA plot at play here? Would Barnes insist she leave? What if he did and then he had to leave himself? Even if the room wasn’t bugged and Barnes didn’t throw her out, what if the HYDRA nurse overheard? Could she somehow let FRIDAY know? How much access to FRIDAY did Nurse Hawley have? Her phone was dead but maybe...

No, she couldn’t risk it. She would just have to keep up the story. However long it took, she had to keep up the story.

“When this is over,” she muttered at Steve’s unconscious form, “I’m going on a vacation and not telling anyone how to find me.”


	6. Chapter 6

Bob shook his head, trying to clear the cobwebs from his mind. This nightshift business was no joke, and he was struggling to adjust to a more nocturnal schedule.

He just hoped it wouldn’t be permanent. Mr. Storm couldn’t stay mad at him forever right? He’d forget him eventually and then Bob could go back to his usual schedule at his usual post.

Right?

Then again, if Mr. Storm forgot him, he might be stuck on this shift forever. And then he’d never see his kids, and Alison would leave him, and then he’d be too upset to get up and go to work, so he’d lose this job, and heaven knows he won’t find another one - not with HYDRA on his resume. But at least the kids’ braces got paid for before he inevitably wound up living in a dumpster, right? 

He sighed as he passed the nurses’ station and paused to rub the sleep out of his eyes. He really, really needed to either get used to this schedule or get back on his old one.

“Why can’t you just grab her? She’s all alone in there!” Nurse Hawley hissed into the phone. “What do you mean you’re afraid of her?!?”

Bob blinked and tried to remember when Nurse Hawley got a new puppy. She told him that, right? That’s what she was talking about? Puppies were great and all, but Bob personally found kittens to be more intimidating. He wasn’t one to judge though - maybe it was a big puppy.

“Our window is closing. Man up and get it done!” Nurse Hawley hissed, her eyes darting around the floor and narrowing when they landed on Bob. His stomach lurched at her expression. She must be really worried about her puppy.

“No, I will not apologize for my gendered language when you’re being an idiot! If you can’t handle the job, I’ll just have to get in there and do it myself.”

Bob chuckled to himself at her outburst and continued on his rounds. Puppies were no joke either, and it sounded like Nurse Hawley had her hands full with hers. He made a mental note to ask her the pup's name later. But for now, he really wanted swing by the cafe - some coffee was definitely in order.

* * *

Bucky stared at the options on the menu board then returned his attention to the pastry case. He’d been here with Darcy before. What had she ordered? It hadn’t been that long ago and she’d been really happy with what she got and….Well shit. He kicked himself for not paying closer attention at the time.

Although, he had just had a piece of rebar removed from his guts during that visit. He would probably be forgiven for being a little distracted. Darcy had been so worried, fussing over him and worrying her lower lip every time he dismissed her concerns as unnecessary. (He might be a little _less_ forgiven for being distracted by that.)

He smiled at the memory and tried to remember exactly _why_ they’d ended up in the cafe in the first place. He’d likely still been healing. Maybe she’d wanted something? In any event, they’d been there, Darcy had ordered, Bucky had paid, Darcy had protested, and then she walked him back to his room.

That was it - he’d been dying to get out of his room and planning to just run for it. _Darcy_ had argued that he was still healing and that if he promised to be good and do as the doctors said, she’d take him on an adventure. To the coffee shop, but he had been laid up for a few days at that point. Anything beyond the four walls of his hospital room was an adventure.

Any time spent with Darcy was an adventure.

“Sergeant Barnes! Good to see you up and about again!”

Bucky turned to see Hydra Bob standing to the side of the counter and smiling. The coffee cup in his hand only shook slightly as Bucky considered him, but it was enough to make Bucky turn down the intensity on his scowl.

Slightly.

Bob was fun to mess with. Sue him.

Then again, Bob was friends with Darcy. Maybe he remembered her coffee order.

“Bob,” he greeted with a nod and a sad attempt at a smile.

Bob perked up a little as a not-quite-comfortable silence settled between them. After it was clear Bucky wasn’t going to say anything else, Bob cleared his throat. 

“Quite the menu,” he said, nodding at the board. “Need a recommendation? I’m here enough I’ve tried everything.”

“What would Darcy like?” Bucky asked.

“Darcy? Oh that’s easy. Ian always gets her a seltzer water and the red pepper falafel wrap.”

Bucky racked his brain for anyone in Darcy or Jane’s labs named Ian and came up blank. Probably one of the techs they always had scurrying after them. He dismissed it for the moment. “Even for breakfast?”

“Oh! Yeah, I guess it is that time, huh? Sorry, I’ve been on night shift for three weeks now - my hours are all messed up.” Bob looked at the menu board again and frowned.

“Wait,” Bucky said, prompting Bob to turn back to him. “Why are you on night shift? I thought with your seniority, you had your pick of shifts. And if I remember correctly, you always tried to pick ones that would let you get home before your kids got out of school.” He mentally crossed his fingers that he was remembering that correctly. Once upon a time, he had been good with details like that and he wanted to be again. It was a study in patience to be sure, but one that he was getting pretty good at. Usually.

“Oh.” Bob flushed with embarrassment. “Yeah, usually. But I, uh, accidentally messed up at Mr. Storm’s apartment a few months ago.”

“Messed up?” Bucky prompted. “Messed up how?”

“He had me reassigned after a security breach,” Bob muttered.

Bucky flipped through his mental index of all security issues in the last few months. “I didn’t hear about any security breach.”

Bob shifted, uncomfortably. “I forgot which girlfriend was visiting and allowed a second girlfriend to enter the residence.”

Bucky groaned. “That fucking - okay.” He paused to stuff his anger into a box that he could deal with later, when there were only breakable heavy bags around and not breakable...anything else. “Give me a day or two, I’ll get you sorted out. He can’t just do that, okay? He tries somethin’ like that again, you let me know and _I’ll_ deal with him.” 

“Oh, I couldn’t ask-”

“You ain’t askin’, pal. Storm can’t abuse you like that.”

Bob’s ears flushed pink and his eyes teared up for a brief moment. “Okay.”

Bucky gave him a curt nod. “Now. Darcy. Breakfast?”

“Oh! Right.” Bob turned back to the board. “She’s a fan of the vegan blueberry muffins and cinnamon lattes.”

Bucky’s brow furrowed. “Darcy’s vegan?” He wouldn’t have missed that, right? Details again. Always the details. 

“No. She just likes the muffins.”

Okay. Maybe he wasn’t so bad with the details after all. Bucky allowed that thought to briefly console him as he placed the order. A muffin and a latte for Darcy, two muffins and a latte for him, and a chocolate croissant to split, because he had a feeling it would make her smile. Chocolate always made her smile.

He should not be so concerned with making her smile.

Bucky quickly shut down that internal guilt-trip as quickly as it popped up. He was looking after his best friend’s girl, while she looked after his best friend. That was all.

That _had_ to be all.

Really.

(His therapist would not be happy with how he was lying to himself.)

He made a mental note to buy a few more heavy bags and picked up the bag of pastries and the small tray with the coffee cups.

“Thanks for the assist, Bob. I could not remember Darcy’s order.”

“Anytime! I’m sure she’ll appreciate it, especially since Ian’s been away. Last I heard, he was somewhere in Norway, I think.”

Bucky nodded absently. “Which one was Ian again? I can’t keep all of their techs straight anymore.”

“Oh, Ian isn’t one of Doctor Foster’s techs.”

Bucky blinked. “Then...who is he?”

Bob grinned. “Ian is Darcy’s boyfriend.”


	7. Chapter 7

Boyfriend. Ian was Darcy’s _boyfriend_. The boyfriend she had while also engaged to Bucky’s best friend.

Okay. Bucky could sometimes unironically call himself a modern guy. He didn’t judge people on their personal lives. How consenting adults found their happiness wasn’t any of his business. Sometimes he might wish that those happy idiots wrote a handbook or something for the rest of the poor souls wandering this universe, but otherwise he really didn’t care what anyone did. He was zen that way. Or something.

But dammit, he’d known Steve since before Bela Lugosi was Dracula and there was no way in hell Steve would ever be comfortable in an open relationship. No matter how much they’d drifted apart or how much had changed, there were some things that were absolutes and Steve Rogers’ serial monogamy was one of them. Despite a reputation the history books completely fabricated, he and Steve had always had that in common. 

So that left Darcy as the bad guy. 

Fuck everything. 

Bucky’s flesh hand shook slightly, causing the paper to crinkle noisily in the elevator as he made his way back up to Steve’s room. The metal hand was ever steady, keeping the two lattes completely still in their cups on the little cardboard tray. Bucky was a little grateful - while he might wish for a few shots of whiskey for the conversation he was about to have, the caffeine would have to suffice. 

The elevator doors slid open, letting Bucky out onto the floor. He noted the empty nurses station as he passed - at least there wouldn’t be any witnesses if his conversation with Darcy became heated. He didn’t _want_ to fight with her, and he certainly wasn’t looking to embarrass her - but he had to say something, didn’t he? 

Didn’t he?

He paused outside the room. He could just leave it alone - mind his own business and let Steve and Darcy work it out when Steve woke up. Clearly, Darcy was devoted. She loved Steve so much she was refusing to leave his side through all of this. Her face earlier this morning as she slept next to Steve said it all. Maybe this thing with Ian was a mistake, a lapse in judgement. Steve’s brush with death opened her eyes and everything would be different now.

Could he live with himself if he didn’t say anything though? Could he keep the fact that he knew about Ian a secret from both Darcy and Steve forever?

He sighed. Life was less complicated when he was stuck in cryo.

He kicked his courage out of its corner and wrapped it around his heart as he stepped into the room. “Hey. Sorry it took awhile.”

Darcy’s eyes lit up at his appearance. “I love you.”

“Um.” Seriously? The universe hated him.

She made a grabbing motion at him. “Coffee me. Now.”

He couldn’t help the smile that pulled at his lips and he set the tray down on the little table and started to pull the pastries out of the bag.

“Which one’s mine?” Darcy asked.

“Coffees are the same. I got you a blueberry muffin and the chocolate croissant.”

Darcy snatched a muffin off the table and took an enormous bite. “Man after my own heart,” she said around a mouthful of breakfast pastry.

Bucky ignored the implications of that statement and settled into the chair next to the bed with his own breakfast. “Can I take that to mean you like it?”

“Buddy, I haven’t eaten in far longer than I like to think about. You could have brought me anything and it wouldn’t have mattered. But the cinnamon latte and blueberry muffin combo used to be my favorite, so you done good.” She screwed up her face in concentration for a moment then blinked at him. “Is that a coincidence? Or did I get that with you that one time? I thought I was on my honey latte kick at that point but maybe I’m mixing it up.”

Bucky relished the slight sweetness of the coffee for a moment before answering. “Bob told me.”

“Bob? Huh. Wonder how Bob knew. That guy, I swear.” Darcy shook her head and smiled around her cup as she took a sip of her latte. “Ugh, that’s good.” She stared at the cup for a long moment, then flicked her eyes to the door. 

“I need to tell you something,” she said, her voice low and insistent. “And I’m not entirely sure how to start. It’s important, but also complicated and honestly more than a little embarrassing for me, but it’s _important_ and I need someone to know.”

That was unexpected. Darcy was going to just...tell him about Ian? He wondered briefly what brought on this bought of honesty, but was relieved to get the conversation over with.

“Is this about Ian?” he prompted. If he made this easier for her, then it would be easier for him, too. In theory. 

Darcy blinked, her jaw dropping slightly. “Uh. What?” 

Maybe not. “Ian.”

“Yeah, I heard you. Why would - no, better yet. How do you even know about Ian?”

Bucky shifted a little in his seat. He didn’t want to reveal that Bob had let the detail slip, but he wouldn’t lie to Darcy either. “Does it matter?” he hedged.

“I mean. Kinda?” Darcy scrunched up her face. “I guess it depends on why you know about Ian. Did something happen?”

“What?”

“Did something happen to Ian? I don’t know where he is these days, we don’t really keep in touch.”

Wait. Bucky shook his head in confusion. “You don’t keep in touch with your boyfriend?”

The look of confusion on Darcy’s face matched the confusion swimming in Bucky’s head. “My what? I don’t have a boyfriend.”

Alarm bells rang in Bucky’s head. “You have Steve,” he replied, slowly.

“No, I -” Darcy stopped abruptly. “Right. I don’t have a boyfriend. I have Steve. My fiancé. That is not a boyfriend.” She rubbed her eyes briefly, then tried to take another sip of coffee only to find her cup empty. Bucky tried not to notice how adorable she was when she made a pouting face at the cup. 

“Look,” Darcy said, glancing again at the door. “I don’t know what’s going on here or what brought Ian’s name to your attention. He was my intern way back in London. We dated for like. A month? Something like that after the whole dark elves thing, but it just wasn’t working well enough to bother with long distance so we broke it off. He’s been working for Jane at various labs all over the world, but he and I haven’t really kept in touch. Last I heard, he was working on some theory at one of the labs in Costa Rica, but that was ages ago, so who knows.”

“So who was the Ian getting you coffee?” Bucky pressed.

Darcy shrugged. “Same guy. He was here for a few weeks last year or so? We’d hang out during work hours, grab coffee on breaks and stuff.”

“Your story isn’t making any sense. Do you keep in touch with him or not?”

Darcy narrowed her eyes at him and when she spoke, her voice was irritated. “I wasn’t aware there was a story to tell here, Barnes. I dated the guy a few years ago. We don’t keep in touch, but we are friendly on the rare occasions we end up working together. That satisfy this line of questioning or should I report to security for a more thorough interrogation?” 

Shame coursed through him. Darcy was his friend and he was treating her...well, not in any way she deserved to be treated, that was for sure.

“I apparently received some out of date intel,” he admitted. “I’m sorry.”

Darcy leaned back, startling a little when she bumped Steve legs, but quickly settled when she glanced back and saw she hadn’t jostled his IVs.

“You were really ready to lay into me, weren’t you?” A smile crept across her face. “You were gonna avenge your buddy’s honor.”

“Look-”

“Hey, I get it. Steve’s middle name is monogamy. He wouldn’t be cool with me having a piece on the side.” Darcy’s grin grew fond. “But what you don’t know is that mine is too - I’m not a cheat, and open relationships aren’t my style. If it’s me and you - it’s me and you, you know?”

“Yeah,” he breathed. “I know.”

“I should be annoyed with you,” Darcy said. “But you _did_ bring me delicious coffee. And a chocolate croissant, which we are totally splitting, because I cannot eat that whole thing myself.”

“I am sorry,” he started, but Darcy waved him off.

“Don’t worry about it. But I do still need to tell you -” she stopped suddenly and stared out the door.

Bucky turned, but didn’t see anything outside. One of Steve’s nurses had just sat down at the nurses station, but otherwise everything outside was quiet. “What is it?”

“Nothing,” Darcy whispered. “It’s nothing.” She blinked rapidly a few times, then bit her lip. If Bucky didn’t know better, he’d say she was forcing back tears.

“What do you need to tell me?”

Darcy sighed. “Maybe later,” she muttered. 

“Darcy,” he said, keeping his voice quiet to match hers. “Come on, you can tell me. Somethin’ bothering you?” He hesitated. “They tell you somethin’ ‘bout Steve? Or...I don’t know, is someone making noise about you being in here? I’ll go talk to them, you can stay as long as you want. I won’t let anyone kick you out if you don’t want to go.”

“You’re a far better friend than I deserve, Barnes.” Darcy’s voice was resigned and it broke his heart. Whatever was on her mind, it was weighing heavy. He hoped she would tell him sooner rather than later, let him help shoulder whatever the burden was, if only a little.

“You have anything to do today?” she asked. 

He shook his head. “No. No, not really.”

“You think you might want to keep me company?” Darcy’s voice was small, as though she expected him to laugh or berate her for asking. “I’m...I’m going out of my mind a little.”

Bucky took a good look at her. She looked exhausted, despite the coffee and overall cheerful demeanor. He wondered how much of that was an act. How much worry and stress and fear she was covering with her jokes and her smile. 

“Not for long!” Darcy rushed to add. “I mean, just because I’m here all day-”

“Darcy. There’s nothing else I’d rather do.”


	8. Chapter 8

“Well, this is cozy.”

Darcy jolted awake at the sound. Her heart leapt from her chest as she struggled to get her bearings.

“Nat,” she gasped, when she finally realized who was in the room. “Gave me a heart attack.”

Natasha raised one perfect eyebrow at her. “Since when do you find me scary, Darcy?”

“Since always, and you know it,” Darcy grumbled, struggling to sit up. She’d handcuffed herself to Steve again while she slept, still terrified that some HYDRA goon would try to steal him away to some HYDRA facility in parts unknown while Darcy slept. Not that she had any real delusions that her presence could really stop a determined HYDRA agent, but she hoped that she might at least deter them or slow them down if they did make a move. She gave one small, guilty glance in Natasha’s direction. Natasha just stared impassively back. 

Darcy sighed and dug the key out of her bra and released herself from Steve’s side.

“So,” Natasha began once Darcy extracted herself from Steve’s hospital bed. She stepped further into the room and set herself down in the chair next to the bed, leaving Darcy to perch on the edge of the bed near Steve’s feet. “I hear congratulations are in order.”

“Is that all you hear?” Darcy asked. There was no way in hell Natasha bought Darcy’s story. Right?

Natasha smiled at her. “I hear lots of things.”

Darcy pinned her with her gaze. “Nothing worth sharing, probably.” She slid her eyes toward the door, then back to Natasha. Unsubtle, but the best Darcy had at the moment, given that the room could still be bugged. “Especially when you never know who might show up.”

Natasha’s face remained impassive, but she tilted her head back slightly. Darcy took that to mean she understood - don’t say anything you wouldn’t want anyone overhearing.

“Do you really think that’s something you need to worry about here?” Natasha asked.

“I know it is,” Darcy replied simply. “It’s why Steve and I never told anyone we were engaged. People do all sorts of things when they’re desperate.”

“Or worried about someone they care about,” Natasha agreed, then paused. “You aren’t who I would have imagined with Steve.”

“Me either,” Darcy muttered. “Sam disagrees - apparently he was pushing Steve to ask me out.”

Natasha’s eyes danced with amusement. “Oh Sam. That would have made a lovely cover for Steve though - if Sam was trying to fix him up with someone, no one would guess Steve was already with someone.”

Darcy narrowed her eyes at her. “Yes,” she said slowly. “That would be a good cover.” Hadn’t Nat been trying to fix Steve up for ages? Holy shit, did that mean - 

Darcy’s thoughts were interrupted as Natasha stood and went to Steve’s side, reaching for his hand. There was a flicker of emotion that crossed her face. Darcy knew it was intentional - Natasha _wanted_ her to see it. Whether it was part of one of Natasha’s games or an actual display of trust, she wasn’t entirely sure. She hoped it was trust. She was doomed otherwise.

Natasha squeezed Steve’s hand briefly, then released it. “You’re really worried?” she murmured.

“About Steve’s condition? Or about unexpected guests?”

“Yes.”

Darcy pursed her lips, then nodded. “Yes,” she parroted. It was true. Steve was her friend - that’s why she was here in the first place. But outside of her worries about HYDRA, she’d never seen Steve injured this badly. He’d always seemed...indestructible. Larger than life, somehow. Like nothing could ever touch him. Seeing him like this - pale and smaller than he usually seemed. It scared her.

Natasha nodded. “Okay,” she whispered. Then she blinked and her mask was firmly back in place. She turned to Darcy. “I’m really glad he has someone like you looking out for him.”

Darcy gave her a wry grin. “You saying you wouldn’t do the same?”

Before Natasha could answer, there was a voice from the room’s entrance. “I’m going to have to ask you both to step outside while we evaluate Captain Rogers.” Darcy and Natasha both turned to the door to see Nurse Hawley, flanked by two large orderlies. 

Anxious acid burned through Darcy’s stomach and up into her throat. “I’m good here,” she replied. “Whatever you need to do.”

Nurse Hawley glared at her. “You’ll step outside. Now.”

Natasha’s eyes slid between the two, before raising an eyebrow at Nurse Hawley. “I’ll step out. There’s plenty of room for Darcy here in the corner. She won’t be in your way at all.”

Nurse Hawley ground her teeth, then moved to Steve’s bedside and started checking the IV and monitors without another word.

Darcy quickly moved into the corner as Natasha moved to the door. She stayed in Darcy’s eyeline as she tapped at her phone, which Darcy appreciated. She hoped that Natasha was picking up the bad news vibes that Hawley seemed to be drenched in and calling in all the backup. Maybe Darcy wouldn’t have to actually say anything out loud Natasha anything for her to understand what was actually going on. Maybe Darcy wouldn’t be so alone in this anymore.

Darcy kept a close eye on Hawley and the orderlies. There wasn’t any funny business as far as Darcy could see - it didn’t look like they were slipping Steve any drugs or messing with his meds or anything like that. She put nothing past HYDRA though - who knew what nonsense they cooked up in their labs that she didn’t know to watch for?

After a few tense, silent moments, Hawley and the orderlies swept out of the room without a glance in Darcy’s direction and Natasha came back in.

“I’d do exactly the same as you’re doing, Darcy,” Natasha said without preamble. “Which is why I think you should keep doing it.”

Keep - wait. She’d been hoping that Natasha figuring it out would mean Darcy could stop, not dig herself in further. She cleared her throat and pinned Natasha with a meaningful glare. “You’re the only one. Everyone else keeps trying to get me to go home.”

“Don’t,” Natasha replied sharply, then softened. “Don’t. Please. He needs you.”

Shit. She couldn’t argue with that. Okay then. Yaaaay hero business. “I’ll be here,” Darcy promised, her voice resigned. 

“I wouldn’t waste the time or the battery with the white noise app on your phone - you’re not going to sleep any better,” Natasha said, giving Darcy a significant look.

Shit. So the room was bugged. “Maybe I’ll just write myself a story, fall asleep that way?” Darcy grimaced.

Natasha shrugged. “I’ve always found writing things down to be too messy - no matter what the medium.”

There went that idea. Darcy sighed and nodded her understanding.

“I’ll see what I can do about the unexpected guests,” Natasha said, taking one last look at Steve before moving to the door.

Oh thank god. The calvary _was _ coming after all. “Thanks, Nat,” Darcy replied. “For...all of it.”

Natasha smiled - a genuine one, one that reached her eyes. “It’s what friends are for isn’t it?”

“Darcy!” Jane burst into the room, barreling towards her. “You’re never going to believe this!” 

Darcy rocked back with the force of the hug Jane enveloped her in. “I’m absolutely sure I will believe it, Jane. Can you give us a sec?”

Jane glanced over to Natasha. “Oh. Hi. Sorry.”

Natasha smiled. “Not at all. I was just saying goodbye. Darcy, do you need anything? I might not be back for a bit while I consider what we talked about, but I could send something?”

Darcy looked to Jane. “Did you finally remember my bag?”

Jane held a bag up, a sheepish look on her face. “Sorry it’s late,” she said, her voice small.

Darcy gave her an indulgent smile. “I am waaaay overdue for a date with my toothbrush. You’re lucky I love you.” She looked back to Natasha. “I should be good for now, thank you. Although if you see Barnes, will you give him a shift kick in the shins for bringing me coffee yesterday and then leaving me hanging? Cruel and unusual, that’s what it is. Cruel and unusual.”

Natasha raised an eyebrow. “Bucky Barnes offered to bring you coffee.” It was a statement and a question all rolled into one. Darcy wanted to learn how to do that. It gave Natasha gravitas.

“He woke me up, was kind of a jerk, then brought me breakfast. Now he’s _really_ a jerk, because he hasn’t been back to surprise me with more delicious coffee and breakfast pastries. Some friend he is.”

Amusement danced in her eyes. “Swift kick in the shins it is. I’ll be in touch soon.” Natasha turned and left the room.

“What does Natasha have to consider?” Jane asked. 

Darcy shrugged, but didn’t answer. The less she had to talk about it in this room, the better. She really hoped that Natasha had picked up on that request too - it wasn’t just looking into the people in the hospital who wanted to hurt Steve. It was how far did their reach go. Did they bug all of the patient rooms or just certain ones? Which ones? Was it just the Avengers floor or was it select rooms on all of them? How many people on staff were in on it? Darcy’s head spun with questions and she couldn’t do anything to help find the answers. It was frustrating, to say the least.

“So,” Jane said, unsure. “You’re...engaged.”

And to top off Darcy’s frustrations, there was this story she had to maintain. She felt a headache forming behind her eyes. “Yep,” she replied shortly.

“And...you didn’t tell anyone?” 

“Nope.”

“Oh.” Jane’s voice had a strange quality to it that Darcy wasn’t entirely sure she’d heard before. “I thought...that was the sort of thing we’d tell each other.”

Fuck everything with a rusty chainsaw. Forget what she owed Steve for whatever liberties she had to take to maintain the lie. _He_ was going to owe _her_ so freaking big for taking on this fiction to save his star-spangled behind after he got his ass shot off a roof. The rest of the Avengers too - they could vet their people a little better or establish some sort of panic code or something. Then she wouldn’t have to resort to such measures. 

Then again, if she proposed _that_, Maria Hill would probably make her run the damn program - as if she didn’t have enough on her plate.

She focused back on Jane’s crestfallen expression. “Oh Janey.” Darcy didn’t know what to say. She didn’t know what she could say. Except, well. “I’m sorry. One day, I’ll give you the whole story.”

“Not today?” Jane asked, a sad hopefulness in her voice. 

Darcy shook her head sadly. “One day, when all of this is over and we’re just...hopefully laughing about it. In Antarctica, most likely.”

“What?”

“Nevermind.”

“Okay.” Jane didn’t seem convinced, but didn’t press the issue. “So...have you picked a date?”

Darcy rubbed her eyes. “Jane, can we not do this right now?”

“Oh gods, I’m sorry. Steve’s hurt and here I am...I’m sorry.”

“No, you’re fine, it’s a question I should get used to hearing, I guess. I just…” Darcy sighed and took Jane’s hand, leading her over to the chair by the bed. She settled Jane into it, while Darcy hopped back onto her perch near the foot of Steve’s bed. “Tell me about your breakthrough?”

Jane considered for a long moment. “If you’re sure…”

Darcy nodded. “I’m sure.”

“Okay. Well, I was going over the latest results Shuri sent us…”


	9. Chapter 9

Darcy turned the page in her book and sighed. She'd been staring at the page for at least a half hour and she had no idea what it said. What exactly was the point of Jane bringing her a few books if Darcy couldn't even focus enough to read them? She’d cracked this one open when Jane left yesterday and she couldn’t remember a word she’d read. Her brain just kept turning over her current situation and helpfully supplying worst-case scenarios. Currently, she was anticipating no less than two HYDRA strike teams and a protracted stay in a dirty cell, which was honestly one of the tamer versions she’d envisioned lately. It was almost a relief.

A knock at the door drew her attention.

"Hey," Barnes greeted.

Darcy perked up. "Hey."

Barnes walked in and held up a bag. "Thought maybe you'd want some dinner? That wasn't hospital food, anyway."

Bless him. Darcy had been wary of eating anything the nurses offered, not knowing who to trust. How was she to know that the soup they wheeled in hadn't been dosed with something to knock her out so they could get a chance at Steve? Jane was busy, and there were very few other people she trusted to not be HYDRA.

Not that she could say any of this out loud. Barnes was just being a gentleman.

Or he only brought it to avoid another kick in the shins from Nat.

"I don't know," Darcy said slowly, with a teasing grin. "Depends what it is."

Bucky rolled his eyes, but his answering grin was indulgent and good natured. "I swung by Thai Spoon. Grabbed you some Tom Kha soup, red curry noodles, extra veggies."

Darcy paused. "My favorite."

"I know." Bucky shifted his weight and cleared his throat, continuing before she could ask him exactly how he knew that. "So. You want any or should I just-"

"Uh, sit your butt down and dish out the goods, buster," Darcy ordered.

Bucky chuckled and set the bag on the wheeled cart that served as a bedside tray. He pulled containers out of the bag as Darcy moved the chair closer to the bed.

"For you," she said, motioning to the chair. "I'm assuming I'll have the pleasure of your company for dinner?"

"If that's okay," he said, slowly.

"Of course it's okay. You think I like sitting here all by myself, watching this guy sleep?" Darcy jerked a thumb over her shoulder at Steve as she climbed into her now customary spot on the bed near his feet.

Bucky's eyes lingered on Steve for a moment. "How's he doing?" he asked, his voice soft as he handed Darcy her food.

She stuck a fork in the noodles and twirled it aimlessly. "Three days," she muttered. "I've been sitting here, watching him sleep for three whole days. This can't be normal, right? He's supposed to heal faster than this?"

Bucky shrugged, his expression helpless. "It was quite the fall.”

Darcy snorted. “Plus the bullets, don’t forget those.”

“Oh, I haven’t, trust me. Then he got stabbed on top of it all. I read the report, the knife he was stabbed with was coated in a weird poison. It's probably slowing down his healing."

"I'm just...going out of my mind a little here," Darcy said. Going out of her mind with boredom, really. She had little to do beyond stare at Steve. She'd tried poking around the room, looking for listening devices or cameras, but there was nothing obvious. Still, Nat had seemed pretty confident that they were there. And even if she had found something, what could she do? She couldn’t disable them, not without tipping off whoever was watching. She was stuck continuing to keep up this story, this fiction that she and Steve were in love and engaged, until she could confirm that it was safe to tell someone the truth or Steve woke up.

She wasn't entirely sure which would happen first. At this rate, it felt like neither was likely to happen - ever - and she'd spend the rest of her life sitting in this room, staring at the wall.

She wondered if she'd actually died in the explosion and this was her purgatory or hell or something. That would be her luck.

"Steve's a fighter. He's gonna make it through this." Bucky voice was firm and brokered no argument or doubt.

Oh right. He was assuming that she was going out of her mind with worry for Steve, not boredom. And didn’t that just make her an asshole. It wasn’t that she _ wasn’t _ worried about Steve, but. Well. 

"I know," she quickly, flashing Bucky what she hoped was a grateful smile. Then she shoved noodles in her face to cover her discomfort at the lie.

"You know, you don't have to hang around here all the time," Bucky said. "You could go home, get some real sleep."

She shook her head and rushed to finish her bite of noodle. "No," Darcy said emphatically. "I can't leave him alone. So unless you're offering to take a shift and can swear to me that you won't leave him alone even for a moment, I'm not going anywhere." She stuffed her face again, hoping that would end that line of conversation. If Barnes pressed, she wasn't sure she wouldn't waffle.

Life would be infinitely easier if she could just tell him the truth. She’d tried, that day he brought her breakfast, but she didn’t know how much could be heard from the nurses station and Hawley was sitting out there right now. Plus whatever it was that Nat had found...Well, at least Nat was looking into it. Darcy just had to hang on a while longer.

Bucky stared at her for a long moment then shook his head, smiling ruefully down at his own dinner. "You're really gone for him," he muttered. "He's lucky. To have someone waiting for him. To have you here, watching over him."

Darcy was very thankful that her mouth was still full and she wasn't really expected to answer because she had absolutely no way to respond to that. Her smile felt brittle and she hoped Barnes didn’t notice.

Barnes chewed his own noodle thoughtfully as he looked around the room. "What do you do in here all day anyway?"

She paused, her fork halfway between her plate and her mouth. "Uh...mostly count ceiling tiles?"

"What?"

Darcy shrugged. "I have a book and I have some work stuff I could be doing. It's just kinda hard to concentrate, you know?"

"Yeah." Barnes looked around again. "Don't these rooms usually have a tv or something? When I woke up the other day, my room had a tv. Not that I was in the room long enough to use it, but I saw it there. It could at least provide some white noise or something. Break up the monotony.”

"Mine too," Darcy replied and Barnes looked at her sharply. "Oh yeah - after you passed out, I passed out too. Apparently, Clint had to dig us out. We were a bit buried, but you shielded me from the worst of the debris. I woke up in a hospital bed down on 26. It had a tv. There wasn't one in here at all though. Not since they first brought Steve in here anyway."

Barnes stared at her. "They had you on 26?"

Darcy nodded. "Yeah. Why?"

He exhaled sharply. "Family goes on 32."

Shit. Mayday! "I mean, no one knew about the engagement, so-"

Barnes waved her off. "Steve had changed his emergency contact and listed you as his fiancée. They knew. They still put you on the wrong floor. I swear, some times this place..." He rubbed at his face as his voice trailed off. Darcy wasn’t sure she’d ever seen him look this tired before.

"Why does it matter?"

"It matters,” he replied, his tone icy, but his ire didn’t seem to be directed at her. “Better security, for one.”

_ Oh Barnes, if you only knew _. Darcy dug her nails into her palm to keep from rolling her eyes.

He continued, oblivious to Darcy’s swirling thoughts. “Better food, another. Plus, when you're on the family floor, they're less likely to hassle you about visitors."

"I really wasn't there long enough to warrant any visitors, Barnes," she reminded him. "I woke up, read my chart, saw I wasn't dying, then checked myself out."

"Still!" he protested. "Steve would have wanted you on the family floor." He glared at her, just a little. “And you might be a doctor, but I’m pretty sure you’re not _ that _ kind of doctor.”

"Yeah well, I’ve been in and out of enough scrapes to know the difference,” she changed the subject, suddenly uncomfortable with Barnes’ concern for her welfare. “Anyway, I was in the process of checking myself out when he came in, so. I got myself up here pretty fast. Nurse gave me the wrong room at first."

He narrowed his eyes. "Why?"

"Oh um." Shit. "She uh didn't - didn't believe me at first. About being Steve's emergency contact. And then when she saw, I guess she...I don't know. Just gave me the wrong room."

"Darcy," Barnes said, his voice even and face expressionless. "Somethin' you're not tellin' me?"

"What do you mean?" she deflected.

“The other day you wanted to tell me something. Something you said was important. Now you’re being….cagey. What’s going on?”

Darcy’s mind raced, trying to find an answer. She kicked herself for not keeping a notebook or something in her bag. Screw what Nat said - right now, she’d happily sacrifice a page out of one of her books so she could just _ tell him _ and end this madness.

His eyes bored into her. "Are they hassling you because you guys wanted to keep things quiet?"

"What? No. No, that's not-"

"I'm going to go say something-"

"Barnes," Darcy replied sharply. She couldn't let him raise a fuss. If he did, the someone might look more closely at Steve's records and see exactly _ when _ his emergency contact changed. If he did, he might put them all in more danger than they were already in.

Barnes stared at her, looking a little hurt at her tone. Which wasn't her goal either. Damn those big dumb eyes of his.

"Barnes," she repeated, her voice much softer now, and she poured a bit of earnest entreaty into it. "It’s okay, okay? They’re not hassling me or anything like that. I promise you. One day, I'll tell you everything. The whole story. But can you just drop it for now? Please?”

He didn’t look convinced.

Darcy took a breath. _ I’m so sorry for this. _ “I just...I want them to focus on Steve getting better, not sorting out some red tape that momentarily inconvenienced me. I don’t want anyone tiptoeing around, thinking that I’m going to start yelling for the manager for every perceived slight, you know? I just...I need Steve to get better and he needs them focused for that.”

She watched him take a deep breath. After a moment, he nodded. "Okay Darcy," he replied, his eyes softening to match his voice. "I can do that."

"Thank you." She pushed the remains of her dinner around the plate so she wouldn’t have to look at the expression on his face. Guilt ferrets were bastards and she had a whole nest of them hanging on her back.

"I'll get that," Barnes said, reaching for her plate. He paused and looked at her. "If you're done?"

She nodded. "Thanks."

He quickly cleared away the remains of their dinner then stood awkwardly in the corner.

"I should-"

"You're welcome to stay," Darcy cut him off. He was good company and she really wasn't ready to stare at the walls until she fell asleep again. And maybe - _ maybe _ \- if they had a chance to talk more about things that weren’t Steve or her fictional relationship with him, he wouldn’t hate her for all of this when it was over. Maybe she’d hate herself a little less. "You know, hang out for a bit?"

He hesitated, then nodded and sat back down. Then he leaned over and pulled something out of his pocket. He held up two decks of cards. "You ever play Machiavelli?"

"No," she replied, intrigued. "What's that?"

"Steve never taught you -" Barnes cut himself off with an incredulous noise. "This is a crime. He and I will be having words when he wakes up." He shook his head and shuffled one deck. "You know crazy 8s?"

"Well, yeah, but I want to know the other thing. Teach me how to play?"

Barnes studied her face. "Yeah?"

Darcy gave him her best grin. "Please?"

Barnes snorted softly. "Okay, killer, put the big guns away. I'll teach you."

"You're my favorite centenarian," Darcy said and settled herself into a more comfortable position on the bed.

"We've had this conversation," Barnes reminded her. "I'm not even your favorite centenarian in this room."

Right. "Well," Darcy hedged. "You're my favorite currently conscious centenarian."

"Nice save, Lewis," Barnes replied flatly as he began to deal the cards.

She grinned. "Thank you, I worked hard on that. Now. What the hell am I looking at?"


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> May or may not have been listening to "Marry Me" by Thomas Rhett while writing this chapter. If that's a thing that interests you.

“Um. What?” Darcy asked, scooting backward slightly and leaning away.

Bob grinned at her, thrusting the bundle into her hands. “I brought wedding magazines and supplies to make a vision board! You have to start planning sometime, right?”

“Um.” Darcy leaned a little further back, bumping into Steve’s legs. Jane jabbed her with her elbow and Darcy jumped just a little. “Planning...my wedding...to Steve. Right.”

Jane glared at her a little, then plastered a smile on her face. “That’s a good idea. Positive thinking and all, looking ahead to when Steve is back on his feet and all of this is behind you, yeah?”

Ice filled Darcy’s stomach at the thought. Whenever Steve woke up, she was going to have so much explaining to do. And if she were really planning a wedding, wouldn’t she want to do the planning with her husband to be? Or at least get his input? She should protest, right?

Or maybe...She eyed the pen and all the paper she was just presented with. There was opportunity here. 

Besides, she’d lost track of how long she’d been sitting in this room with not much else to do. Fuck it. It wasn’t real wedding planning anyway.

_Sorry Steve._

She made grabby hands at Bob. “Gimme." 

“I veto anything red,” Jane said, immediately reaching for the top magazine in the stack.

Bob handed Darcy a few magazines out of the stack, a curious look on his face. “Why red?”

Darcy shrugged and flipped open the first magazine and made a face at the dress in the advertisement. 

Jane took another magazine from the pile. “Her favorite color is blue, so it’ll be involved somehow.”

“So?”

Darcy grinned at Jane’s line of thought. “This one,” she said, jerking her thumb at Steve’s sleeping form without looking back at him, “is obnoxiously patriotic for a living. No one is turning this wedding into a giant American flag.”

“Oh,” Bob said, realization crossing his face. He settled into the chair and flipped open one of the magazines still in his hand. “Long or short?”

“Ceremony?” Darcy asked, confused.

“Train,” Bob replied.

“Veto. No train,” Jane replied, before Darcy could answer.

“With her measurements-”

Darcy raised a dangerous eyebrow at him. “One more word about my measurements and you’ll be eating Steve’s shield.”

Bob cleared his throat. “Hair up or down?” he said, his voice cracking a little as he changed the subject.

She grinned at that. Bob was harmless, generally, despite his former employer. She liked him well enough and didn’t think he was in on any plot to kidnap Steve. The fact that he was just a tiny bit scared of her may have been a factor in how much she liked him, but she was honest enough to say that it didn’t factor into her assessment of whether or not he was here to hurt Steve. 

She flipped the page. “Ohh, I like this.” She pointed to a photo of a long table filled with food and surrounded by laughing people. She wasn’t entirely sure which part of the wedding industrial complex it was supposed to be advertising, but she liked it anyway.

Bob sniffed at the photo. “Maybe for the rehearsal dinner,” he dismissed, before turning his own magazine around to show her. “Now _this_,” he said, his voice awed, “this is perfect.”

Darcy looked up at squinted at the photo. It was of an enormous, poofy gown. Sort of. The poof part covered the model from chest to knees, in a giant circle, then drastically shrank down to hug the poor model’s calves. The poof was made of fluffy ruffles that made the model look like a feather duster. Calling it was a dress would be too generous. There was no universe in which Darcy would ever be caught dead in a...garment...like that. 

She scrambled for a polite way to tell Bob Hell No. “But what if I need to run?”

“Why would you be running?” Bob asked.

“Have you met us?”

“I’m going to get a white board,” Jane said, hopping off the bed. 

“For what?” Darcy asked.

“So we can pin up all the ideas you pick,” Bob replied. “There’s one at the nurses station you can grab.” Jane nodded and swept out of the room.

“Don’t the nurses need that?” Darcy protested, trying not to think about how Nurse Hawley might not take super kindly to people stealing her supplies to keep Darcy occupied. No one needed to give her more incentive to kick Darcy out.

Then again - Jane’s notebook was unattended. If Darcy could just grab a sheet out of it, or scribble something down then - 

“There’s two,” Bob dismissed.

Darcy mentally threw up her hands and decided just to go with it. Whatever Bob and Jane wanted to do was fine - at least Darcy wasn’t alone for a few hours. Heaven forbid Darcy ever actually get engaged and have to plan a wedding. She doubted she’d ever get any say over anything.

* * *

Maybe letting Bob and Jane run things was a mistake. Three hours later, the white board Jane had stolen from the nurses was completely covered with magazine cutouts and scribbled ideas. They’d started taping things to the walls, and Bob had adjusted Steve’s IV stand to be approximately Steve’s height so he could pick the best heel height for Darcy’s reception shoes. Forget the fact that Steve didn’t know how to dance, apparently it was Bob’s dearest wish that Steve and Darcy do some sort of fancy choreography for their first dance. She’d only just managed to stop herself from rolling her eyes - the last thing she wanted was to hurt Bob’s feelings, even if the idea was absurd.

Well, maybe not for some people. But it wasn’t what Darcy would pick - this huge, flashy mess that Bob and Jane were eagerly planning wasn’t Darcy’s style at all. She’d never really pictured her own wedding, but this? This wasn’t it.

_Good thing it’s not real, then._

Darcy couldn’t help the tiny twinge of hurt though - Bob and Jane were her friends. Jane was her best friend. They’d known each other for years. How in all the realms did they think any of this was what she wanted?

She flipped to another page and was greeted with an advertisement starring that movie star everyone always mistook for Bucky. She laughed a little to herself. She didn’t get the resemblance, but apparently it was a _thing_ and it annoyed Bucky to no end. Dude looked good in a suit though. Darcy let herself drift off in a brief fantasy of _Bucky_ wearing that suit and her brain flatlined a little.

“So when the 30-piece orchestra starts to play-“

“The what?” Darcy interrupted, blinking out of her reverie.

Bob grinned. “Well, it’s not like you’d go with something so cliche as a string quartet.”

“Uh…okay?”

Jane tapped a finger to her lips. “I wonder...I mean anyone can book the New York Philharmonic.”

Darcy laughed. “They can?”

Jane continued, ignoring Darcy’s comment. “I’ll bet Thor could arrange for an Asgardian quartet-“

“30-piece orchestra!” Bob insisted.

“That would be truly special, Darce. No one would have that at their wedding.”

Darcy gaped at Jane. “Uh…I’m not Asgardian, nor am I marrying one? Why would-“

Jane smiled at Darcy, knowingly. “Thor thinks of you like a sister, and Steve is his ‘shield brother!’ He tells me all the time that they’ve composed songs about Steve’s battle prowess. It would probably be considered a huge honor to be asked to perform for Steve’s wedding.”

Darcy shifted uncomfortably. “Maybe that’s something we should table until Steve wakes up, huh? I don’t know that he’d be comfortable with all that.”

“He’ll love it!” Bob said, then turned to Jane. “Could you ask Sir Thor today?”

“Guys, I don’t-“

“Sure, I can talk to him. He’ll be going back to Asgard soon anyway.”

Darcy hid her face in her hands and mentally whimpered.

* * *

Bucky took in the scene in front of him in disbelief. The walls of Steve’s hospital room were covered in wedding advertisements, showing everything from dresses and tuxes to invitations to...well, Bucky wasn’t entirely sure what some of the photos were showing. 

Was this...was this really what Darcy wanted? He knew Steve probably didn’t care, as long as Darcy was happy, and would go along with whatever she planned. But...something didn’t feel right.

Bucky looked at Darcy, who was hiding her face and slowly folding more and more into herself as Jane and Bob chattered around her.

Ah. So that was it. Darcy had indulged her friends, and things had gotten out of hand. Time to lend a hand.

He knocked on the doorframe. “Darcy?”

Darcy immediately looked up, her eyes snapping to his. Her face lit up with relief and Bucky firmly ignored the twinge in his gut. 

_She’s only relieved to have the reprieve. She’d direct that look at anyone right now._

“Hi! How are you? What’s up? What’s going on?” Darcy hopped off the bed and grabbed his hand, tugging him into the room, which was now definitely overcrowded. Someone was going to yell at them.

Darcy looked up at him and he suddenly didn’t care. Let Hawley scream and threaten to kick him out. He squeezed her hand.

“I brought dinner,” he breathed.

Darcy leaned in close. “You. Are. My favorite person.” Her voice was low and conspiratorial, but Jane heard her anyway.

“Hey!”

“Sorry Janey. But you know better than to come between me and food.” The smile Darcy gave Jane was anything but sorry, and Jane laughed a little to herself.

“Yeah yeah, I know.” She checked her watch. “Oh! I should really go anyway. The latest models should just be finishing up. Darcy, do you want-“

“Just send everything to my tablet, I’ll get to it eventually.” Darcy grabbed a notebook off the table. “Don’t forget this.”

Jane’s eyes lit up as she took the notebook. She gave Darcy a quick hug goodbye, then with a nod at Bucky and a promise to visit again soon, she swept out of the room.

Bob glared at Bucky. “Do. Not. Touch. Anything. Everything in here is very carefully arranged.”

Bucky slid his eyes over to Darcy who was rolling her eyes behind Bob’s back. 

“I’m pretty sure we’re going to have to move some of it so the doctors can. You know. Attend to Steve?” Darcy reminded him.

Bob sniffed. “I suppose. But no more moving than necessary!” Then he gave Darcy a warm smile. “See you soon?”

“You know where to find me,” Darcy replied. And with that, Bob left as well, leaving Bucky and Darcy the only two conscious people in the room.

“You have the world’s best timing, Barnes,” Darcy said, as she started pulling down all of the clippings off the wall. “I was ready to lose it.”

“Hey now,” he said, “aren’t you worried about all of your careful planning?”

Darcy laughed, bitterly. “Yeah, none of this is happening. Ever.”

That...didn’t sound right. “Darce...Steve’s going to get better. He’s just...taking a little longer than usual. But all of this will happen. Your wedding will happen, even if I have to push Steve’s hospital bed there myself.”

Darcy froze for a moment. “Right.” She blinked a few times then sighed and continued pulling clippings off the wall. 

Bucky hesitated for a moment, then started helping her pull down the photos that Bob must have taped up, as they were too high on the wall for either Jane or Darcy to reach. He squinted at one photo, then turned it so Darcy could see it.

“Uh...are you going to roll around and clean the floors with this thing or something?”

Darcy laughed when she saw the photo he was holding. “That’s Bob’s idea of an ideal dress.”

“For what?”

“A wedding.”

“Will he be the one wearing it?”

“Me.”

“What if you have to run? Has he met you?”

“That’s what I said!” Darcy’s laugh turned a little bitter. “At least someone around here gets me.” She gestured with the photos in her hand at the white board in the corner. “All of this...it’s just not...well. It doesn’t matter.”

Bucky didn’t like the sound of that. None of this was sitting right with him and he felt the irritation rise in his chest. “You know Steve will do anything you want, right? As far as I know, he’s never had his heart set on anything in particular for a wedding. Hell, back in the day, none of this was even…” Bucky shook his head, then looked back at Darcy, who was staring at him intently. “Well, it’s not something anyone would have thought about. Not to this extreme, anyway.”

Darcy searched his face. “What do you want?”

“Me? For what?”

Darcy shrugged her shoulders slightly. “Have you ever thought about it? A wedding you might have?”

Bucky gave her a bitter smile. “Need a partner for that first, don’t I? Haven’t had anything like that since...” Well, ever really. He’d taken plenty of girls for a twirl around a dance hall back in the day, but since the war, since he’d gotten himself back? There hadn’t been anyone special.

He snuck a glance at Darcy. Well, no one special who returned the sentiment. He cleared his throat. “It’s been a long time,” he said, lamely.

Darcy shrugged again. “So? That’s not required. Not to think about it, anyway. The way I figure it, you could imagine all day and all night. Then when you meet the right person, you adjust to fit.”

“Nah. I’d want what she’d want. I don’t think I really...” He looked at the wall. 

Darcy gave him a teasing smile. “So they’d be stuck doing all the planning?”

He half-heartedly glared at her. “Not what I said and you know it.”

Darcy laughed. “You’re so easy to rile up, I love it.” She looked down at the pile of advertisements in her hands, then back at him. “You really don’t have any preference at all?”

Bucky nodded at the wall. “Not this.”

Darcy laughed again and handed her pile to him. “Yeah. They mean well, but...ugh. Me either. Whatever this is, it’s my worst nightmare.”

Bucky grinned at her then glanced down at the pile in his hands. He caught a glimpse of Darcy’s handwriting on a page that was slightly sticking out from the rest.

_Steve’s_ -

He looked away before he could read any further and dumped the photos in the trash can on the maintenance cart in the hall. He didn’t want to know what Darcy would pick out for her groom.

For his best friend.

For _Steve_.

“I don’t know. Maybe…” He looked back at Darcy, who gave him a sour look before turning away to start wiping off the white board. He sighed. He could come up with something, right? Darcy wanted to hear it so...If it were him and Darcy? What would he want?

“Something small,” he said, his voice quiet. “Run down to the courthouse, just us. Dinner with friends after. No suit, nothing fancy. Just...us.”

Darcy was quiet for a bit. “Yeah,” she whispered. “A few paper flowers and a dress I already have in my closet. Flats. The party room at Anopoli’s with friends for dinner after.” Darcy turned back to him, and gave him the saddest smile he’d ever seen. “Sounds perfect.”

Bucky felt the breath punch out of him. “Yeah,” he breathed. 

Then he remembered - they weren’t planning this for them. Darcy didn’t want to marry him. She was going to marry his best friend.

“You-“ he choked a little, then cleared his throat. “You should do that. You and Steve, sounds perfect. And you will. You will do it. When Steve wakes up.”

Darcy looked at him, the bitter smile on her face belayed by the infinite sadness in her eyes. “No. No, I don’t think I will.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case anyone was wondering about the dress Bob picked for Darcy. Well....you asked.
> 
>   



	11. Chapter 11

_ Beep. _

_ Beep. _

_ Beep. _

Darcy stared at the monitor as it tracked Steve’s vital signs. It had been what? Four days? Five days? The hours were all starting to blend together and really, she was just thankful that Jane was the world’s most understanding boss because Darcy hadn’t left this room in so long she was fairly certain she had forgotten what the outside world looked like. 

Jane and Bob were great and Darcy adored them, but their sudden obsession with wedding planning was exhausting, and Nat was nowhere to be found. She was the super spy - she should have found something by now right? She should have been back to get Darcy out of this mess? Maybe?

Or shouldn’t Steve have woken up by now? Seriously, what the hell was the point of having super-soldier serum with enhanced healing if he wasn’t healing enhanced-ly? Or something.

She needed sleep. Real, actual sleep that didn’t involve handcuffs.

A sudden, terrible thought shook Darcy to her core. What if...what if Steve  _ never _ woke up? What if she was suddenly expected to be able to make serious, life-altering decisions for Steve? She had no idea what he might or might not want in this situation. What if…

Nope. She wouldn’t even allow herself to think it. That was a line of thought that was best left unexplored, because it  _ was not going _ to come to that. It wouldn’t. Steve would get better. Steve would wake up.

Darcy was not going to have to have that conversation. She would not have to make that decision.

She would not play the part of the grieving widow.

She took a deep, shuddering breath to try to calm down a little.

_ Beep. _

_ Beep. _

_ Beep. _

Even  _ if _ the worst happened, she wouldn’t be alone. Sam would help her, and Nat. The entirety of the Avengers would be there. Bucky would help.

She rubbed her eyes. Bucky. What a godsend. While everyone else around her was slowly driving her up a wall, his quiet presence was a balm to her weary soul.

One that, before all of this, she’d taken for granted. And now, when she’d really, really like to explore their chemistry...she can’t. There was no way on earth that he’d ever want anything to do with her once the truth finally came out. 

And it  _ would _ come out. She had no intention of trying to keep any of this quiet if Steve woke up.

WHEN.

When Steve woke up.

When Steve woke up, she would tell everyone the truth. She’d scream it from the rooftops at a volume that would rival the SHIELD file dump. 

And Bucky would hate her. He’d rightfully feel she betrayed his trust, and he had enough issues on that front as it was. He’d never want to speak to her again.

When had he gone from “Barnes” to “Bucky” in her head?

A sob escaped unbidden and Darcy bit down on her knuckle to try to stifle the sound. That was it though - the dam had broken. Tears flowed freely down her cheeks as the stress and strain and just all the bullshit emotions of the last few days flowed to the surface and made their way out. She hadn’t had time to properly process her own brush with death let alone everything else that had happened. Now that a little bit had surfaced, it was all coming out whether she wanted it to or not.

She reached for the box of tissues on the tray and grabbed one, swiping at her face as she tried not to drown in her own snot and tears. It was an ugly cry, and it didn’t feel like it was going to subside any time soon. 

Oh well. There were worse things. 

“Darcy?” Bucky’s worried voice came from the doorway. Darcy could barely see him in the in dim light, but she could make out his outline, perched against the door as though he was restraining himself from rushing into the room. Which was a ridiculous thought. He was probably holding himself in place long enough to make sure she wasn’t actively choking or something.

“H-huh.” She tried to greet him with a hello, to pull herself together into some semblance of a rational human being, but her sobs overcame her again and only nonsensical syllables came out.

Bucky broke out of whatever had frozen him in place in the door and he rushed to her side, sliding on his knees to a stop in front of her. He cradled her face in one hand.

“What happened?” he whispered.

“Nu-th,” she gasped, trying to reassure him that everything was fine, she was just having a complete emotional breakdown. He could go about his business, it would pass.

Bucky looked devastated and pulled her into a hug. “Shhhh. I’ve got you. I’ve got you.” He quickly lifted her and turned so he could sit in the chair and settled her into his lap, still firmly ensconced in his arms. He rubbed soothing circles on her back and rocked back and forth gently as her tears continued to flow.

She buried her face in his chest, vowing to apologize for soaking his shirt and paying for his dry cleaning later. The tears weren’t subsiding and Darcy didn’t have the energy to be embarrassed. 

“You know what drives me bananas about Giselle?” Bucky said, suddenly. Darcy could feel his voice vibrate through his chest as she clung to him. 

“Gis-elle?” she gasped.

“The ballet,” Bucky replied. “What drives me bananas is how there isn’t a single main character with any damn sense in that entire damn story.” He stopped rocking and leaned back into the chair, pulling her with him, settling her firmly against his chest.

“I mean, I don’t know if the ballet is based on some other story or myth or something. Maybe it is and things make more sense there, like how movie novelizations contain more context. But in the ballet? Forget it. The only person with any sense is the mother.” He shook his head and continued rubbing circles into her back.

“I could  _ maybe _ hear an argument for the squire, but even that’s questionable at best.” He huffed out an annoyed breath. “Honestly. The only thing I learned from that story was that love makes people stupid and blind.”

“Gah,” Darcy choked, which she supposed was a good thing, because it roughly translated to the highly impertinent  _ “Who hurt you, Barnes?” _

Darcy wanted to ask him if he expected to learn something from every story. If that was his criteria for judging a piece of art or media. She wanted to ask why Giselle, why ballet. Why  _ that specific _ ballet. 

He leaned in and whispered into her hair. “Yeah, I know. I guess it does have it’s advantages. Sometimes. But sometimes it’s hard to see that.”

Darcy’s tears slowed, as Bucky continued to stroke those reassuring circles into her back. She leaned in, allowing him to serve as a silent pillar of support while his babbling did it’s job in distracting and calming her. 

He was such a good friend. Could have been more than a good friend. She didn’t deserve him.

He sighed quietly against her hair. “It’s gonna be okay, Darcy. I promise.”

She sniffed. “And if it’s not?” she asked, her voice breaking and sounding so loud in the otherwise silent room.

Bucky was quiet for long time. The circles on her back slowed as he pressed a gentle kiss to her temple. “Then we’ll face it together. I’ll be here, Darcy. I’m not going anywhere.”

Fat tears flowed from her eyes all over again, but she kept her breathing in check this time. He didn’t know the truth, and if he did, he wouldn’t be making promises he had no intention of keeping.

“I’ll be here. I promise,” he whispered again. She let herself pretend, just for a moment, that he meant it. That he would still mean it when the truth came out.

Darcy clutched at his shirt and sniffled, the sound echoing a little in the room and the innocuousness of  _ that _ broke her out of her misery and made her chuckle, mirthlessly. 

Bucky snatched a tissue out of the box on the tray and offered it to her. She wiped her eyes and nose, then sniffed and leaned back to look at him.

He looked down at her with such care in his eyes. She could almost believe that he meant his promise.

Just...maybe not in the way she wanted him to mean it. 

He did still believe she was engaged to Steve, after all.

“How do you know so much about Giselle?” she asked, trying to break the strange spell that had come over them.

He shrugged. “Nat,” he offered simply.

“Oh.” Huh. Bucky and Nat. That made a strange amount of sense, actually. BuckyNat, her stressed out brain offered, in an absurd attempt to regain equilibrium.

Suddenly, she was so very, very tired.

“Darcy.”

She looked back up at him.

“Sleep. I’ve got this watch.”

Her breath hitched. Sleep sounded good. Sleep while not stuffed into a too-small bed and not handcuffed to Steve? That sounded downright blissful.

“It’s okay,” he whispered. “I’ve got you.”

She nodded and laid her head back on his chest. She didn’t want to think anymore. She closed her eyes, and let the steady sound of Bucky’s heartbeat lull her to sleep.

<hr>

Bucky listened as Darcy’s breath slowly evened out as she fell asleep and mentally berated himself.

He shouldn’t feel so compelled to look after her. She wasn’t  _ his _ to look after. Sure, Steve would be thrilled that he was looking after his girl, but...that wasn’t what he was doing.

What he was doing was such a betrayal of both Steve and Darcy’s trust that if either of them ever found out, he would fully expect to be tased into oblivion and then tossed out the nearest window. And then Darcy would start on him.

But he couldn’t help it. He came here, far later than usual, after he’d already left for the night, because there was an itch under his skin. Something had been screaming at him that he needed to check on Darcy, that something wasn’t right, that she needed him - someone. She needed someone.

And when he’d seen her tears, heard her crying, he’d been helpless to do anything else but go to her. He’d babbled about god knows what, trying to soothe her. And it seemed to work - she’d calmed, eventually. She was sleeping. And that was good - he’d watched the dark circles grow under her eyes as she stole moments of fitful sleep over the last few days. But the stress of the situation would have broken anyone and she needed more. She needed a friend. And he could do that - he was happy to do that.

But...well. 

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t ignore how well she fit here. How he wanted to be the person she turned to when the road got rocky. How she calmed the stormy thoughts in his head and made the whole damn world make sense in a way it never had.

He was her friend. But.

“I love you,” he breathed.

It felt good to say. The words tasted  _ right _ as they passed his lips. But that was it - this was all he could ever allow. One whispered utterance, in the dark of night, while she slept.

Even if his heart changed its beat to match her sleepy breath. 

_ I love you. I love you. I love you. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The writing song for this chapter was "Okay - Acoustic" by AS IT IS. I highly recommend it.


	12. Chapter 12

Darcy slowly blinked awake. Her neck ached and her arm was asleep, the twinge of painful pins and needles jolting whatever fatigue might have lingered out of her brain. 

“Morning,” Bucky whispered.

Darcy blinked a few more times. Her eyes felt crusty, and it took her a moment to register where she was and how she got there.

Well, this was awkward.

“Morning,” she rasped. Coffee. She needed coffee. She could deal with the awkward later. Right now all she wanted was an infusion of caffeine directly into her veins. What were the chances Bucky knew how to do an IV bolus?

“How are you feeling?” Bucky asked.

She looked up at him, struck by the warmth, affection, and concern in his eyes.

_ How the hell did I miss this before? _

She cleared her throat. “Okay.”

Bucky gave her a soft smile and she felt her breath catch in her chest.

Oh. Oh no. 

She was in So. Much. Trouble.

“You slept right through the night. Solid 7 hours.”

A wave of embarrassment washed over her. “Oh god, your arm must be aching, I’m so sorry. You could have woken me.”

“I’m tougher than I look,” Bucky replied, his voice dry as the desert.

“You’d have to be,” Darcy quipped without thinking.

Bucky barked out a laugh. “Okay, killer. Whatever you say.”

Darcy grinned at him, then realized with a jolt that she was still very much in his lap. She shifted and made to get up. Her feet brushed the floor and exploded in pain as the feeling rushed back into them. Letting her feet dangle all night was not the brightest idea ever. She fell back into Bucky, who caught her.

“Easy,” he said, steadying her. “Give it a second.”

“This is very embarrassing,” she grumbled.

“Why? Because you’re human?”

Darcy made to stand up again, gripping Bucky’s hand as he let her lean on him for leverage. She got to her feet, wincing, then released him as she took a few steps, rolling her ankles and stretching her neck. “Being one of the few humans who lives surrounded by superheroes? It’s…trying.”

Bucky nodded. “I might know a little about that.”

Darcy raised an eyebrow and gave him her best skeptical look.

“Hey, I didn’t always have the serum, if you remember.”

Ah. She really was embarrassing herself on all fronts this morning, wasn’t she. 

“Sorry,” she said wince a grimace. 

Bucky grinned at her. “If things had been different, I wouldn’t be here right now, so.”

“The future is kind of awesome,” Darcy said. “It’s got the cronut.”

“It’s got you,” Bucky said, then immediately flushed and turned to study Steve’s vitals on the monitor. He coughed, then spoke again. “Why don’t you go, grab some coffee or something? Find some cronuts, stretch your legs? I’ll hold down the fort here.”

“Bucky.” Darcy didn’t know what else to say. 

“I’m sure leaning against the, well. You know.” He shrugged his shoulder, indicating his metal arm. “I’m sure it wasn’t comfortable. Go, get coffee. Take a break.” He suddenly broke into a teasing grin. “Bring _ me _ breakfast for once.”

Darcy rolled her eyes and him and let out an exaggerated sigh. “Ugh, the things I put up with.”

Bucky chuckled softly. “Seriously. Take a break. I’ll be here.”

Darcy chewed on her lower lip, hesitating. “You won’t leave?”

“I won’t leave.”

“Not even for a second?” she clarified. “Someone comes in the room to take Steve’s vitals and asks you to step out, you promise me you won’t?”

Bucky nodded. “I promise.”

She held out her hand, pinky finger extended. “Swear it. Pinky promise me.”

Bucky looked like he only just stopped himself from rolling his eyes, but his smile was indulgent. He hooked his pinky with hers. “I swear. You know, I was looking after this guy for a long time before you came along. I know the drill.”

Darcy held onto him for a little longer than was strictly necessary. “I know you do,” she agreed. “Okay. I’ll be back in no time. Any requests?” She slung her bag over her shoulder. Normally she’d just grab her wallet, but it’d been so long she wasn’t even sure which pocket it was in at this point.

“Surprise me.”

“Oooh, risky. It’s a bold move, giving me that kind of power over you.”

“Pretty sure I handed that over awhile ago,” he muttered.

“It’s the taser,” Darcy grinned, walking out of the room. “Makes me awesome!”

* * *

“Darcy! What brings you out? Did Captain Rogers wake up?” Bob’s excited greeting startled Darcy out of the fog she’d gotten lost in on the way down to the cafe. She blinked a few times to clear her thoughts, then looked to Bob.

The smile on her face froze when she saw that Bob was waiting for his coffee...with Nurse Hawley. 

The nurse glowered at Darcy. “Yes, Doctor Lewis, do tell. Has our captain suddenly woken up?”

“Um. Nope! Just...” Darcy’s eyes quickly darted around the cafe. Relief washed over her when her eyes landed on Nat, who greeted her with a single, sober nod.

“Just here to see Nat! See you later!” Darcy hurried away from Bob and Hawley to join Nat at her table in the corner.

“Where the hell have you been?” Darcy hissed, sliding into the seat across from Nat. “I’m _ dying _ here.”

“Hello to you too, Darcy,” Nat said, her small smile growing. Darcy growled a little in response and Nat’s smile only grew bigger.

“You’re _ enjoying _ this.”

“This? Maybe. What I’m finding out there - and in here - less so,” Nat admitted. “You were right. I don’t have all the details yet, but you were right.”

Darcy resisted the urge to stomp her foot. “How?!?”

“Working on it.”

Darcy groaned. “So you’re here to. What. Tell me I was right? Yay! Go me! Now what?”

“Is anyone with Steve right now?”

“Bucky’s with him. Now what?”

“_Bucky _ is with him.” Nat smiled. “Interesting.”

Darcy shrugged. “Yeah, I made him pinky promise he wouldn’t leave, not even if they asked him to step out for tests or whatever.”

Nat’s eyes lit up. “Now I’m thrilled this is happening because that means there’s evidence of that exchange.”

“Great. I’m happy for you. _ Help me._”

“I just need a little more time. Keep doing what you’re doing and I’ll get you out as soon as I can,” Nat said. “You have things in hand in the meantime.”

“I really, really don’t.” Darcy looked down at her hands. “Nat, I...I can’t keep lying to Bucky, okay? I just…” she sighed. _ I love him._

Darcy blinked in shock. What an inconvenient time for _ that _ realization. Her eyes snapped back to Natasha, who was regarding her with a triumphant expression.

“Quick question,” Nat said, leaning back in her chair and kicking her heels up on Darcy’s leg. “When did he go from ‘Barnes’ to ‘Bucky?’”

Darcy blinked. “What’s that got to do with anything?”

Nat smirked. “Just a question.”

Darcy glared at her then glanced over at the coffee counter. Bob and Hawley were still chatting, so Darcy leaned closer to Nat and lowered her voice.

“You want the honest answer? The truth is - I don’t know. Somewhere in all this mess, he did, and it’s a problem. He’s Steve’s best friend and he’s never going to speak to me again when this is all over.”

Nat’s expression softened. “You don’t know that.”

“I do, actually.” She sighed. “Is Sam coming back soon?”

“What’s that got to do with anything?”

“He can take over for me. Between me and Bucky and Sam, we could take shifts sitting with Steve and -“

“Darcy-“

“I can’t keep doing this,” Darcy insisted. “Look. One more day. And then…” Darcy shrugged. “I’m telling Bucky the truth.”

“Just hold on a little longer,” Nat pled. “I’m close, Darcy.”

“I can’t,” Darcy whispered. “I can’t.” She slid out of her seat and went to the counter. She ordered a few breakfast sandwiches and two lattes, then added a chocolate croissant for her and Bucky to split. She could feel Nat’s eyes on her the entire time she paid and moved to the side to wait for her order.

Bob came over to join her. “Everything okay?”

“Hmm? Oh. Yeah. Always, you know.” Darcy faked a smile. 

Bob frowned a little at her. “Did something-“

“Order for Lewis!”

Darcy hurried away from Bob to collect her order, ignoring that he’d been asking her a question. She gave him a quick nod after grabbing her order and hurried out of the cafe and toward the elevator. She pressed the call button and breathed a sigh of relief when the doors slid open immediately. Once inside, she jammed her finger into the close button. She had the elevator to herself, and if no one jumped on and any of the intervening floors, she’d have a blissful 20 seconds to herself. 

She thumped her head against the back wall and closed her eyes.

Despite her warning to Natasha, she wasn’t entirely sure she could - or would - simply shout out the truth of the situation to Bucky. It was going to be difficult enough to tell him. Her sudden realization of the depth of her feelings didn’t help.

God, Bucky was going to hate her.

Why the hell couldn’t she have had this realization months ago, before all this? It wasn’t like he’d suddenly become that much more awesome in the last few days. Sure, they’d been spending more time together, but…

Well, it didn’t matter. If she _ had _ had this realization months ago, maybe she’d have made a move. Maybe they’d be dating and this whole thing would have been different. Maybe in that timeline, Steve was taken by HYDRA because Darcy wasn’t there to intervene.

Or maybe Bucky would have let her down gently and they would be awkward and stilted around one another going forward. He would have sent someone else to get her and Jane out of the panic room and they wouldn’t have made it. She’d have died in that stupid lab or in the explosion outside.

This was a very morbid and unhelpful line of thought for a 20 second elevator ride. She shouldn’t be allowed to be alone with her thoughts anymore.

The elevator dinged, signaling that she’d reached her floor. She gave one last sigh and opened her eyes, preparing to face Bucky again in the face of what she now knew about her own feelings regarding him.

The doors slid open.

“Hello Doctor Lewis,” Nurse Hawley smirked, flanked by two large orderlies Darcy didn’t recognize. “We’ve been waiting for you.”


	13. Chapter 13

Bucky watched Darcy go, an unsettled feeling taking root in his chest. He sighed and scrubbed his face with his hands, settling back into the chair he'd sat up all night in. He leaned back and stared at the ceiling tiles for a moment.

He was so unbelievably, incontrovertibly screwed.

What kind of asshole was he anyway? Falling for his best friend's girl while said best friend was stuck in some sort of bizarre coma that he really should have woken up from by now? He only meant to...meant to...

Meant to what, exactly? Heaven knew he'd been sweet on Darcy since the day they'd met. He'd made no secret of that - well, not to Steve anyway. Maybe Sam or Nat had picked up on it, but he didn't think Darcy knew...then again, even if she did know, it didn't matter. She and Steve were getting married and when Steve woke up, well.

He'd figure something out.

That something might be running away on a very long vacation and not telling anywhere where he was going, but who was counting, really?

He looked at his friend, laying so still and pale in his hospital bed. His best friend in the entire world, the man he'd followed into the depths of hell on more than one occasion. The man who he would do anything for and who had literally done everything for him. His brother, his family, in every way that mattered.

He'd had sat here, at his friend's bedside and whispered a confession of love to his best friend's fiancee. And the worst part about it was that he didn’t even feel guilty about feeling the way that he did. His only regret was that when he finally got up the courage to say something, it was too late.

What kind of asshole was he?

"I'm sorry," he muttered, leaning forward and cradling his head in his hands. "For so many things." He looked up at Steve, glancing at the machines keeping track of his vitals. All those little numbers and tiny beeps, telling the story of how his friend hadn't quite given up on the world just yet.

Bucky snorted. If he had Darcy waiting for him, he wouldn’t give up either. Not that Steve had ever been a quitter, but the extra incentive couldn’t hurt.

He grabbed the deck of cards he’d left behind the other night off the tray table and began to shuffle. “What should we play, hmm? Somethin’ quick, Darce will be back in a minute.” He moved all the cards to one hand, then the other, then began to deal.

“Hmmmm,” Bucky hummed as he considered his cards. Steve slept on.

“You want to play the hand you’ve been dealt? Brave man.” 

He looked at his cards, then at Steve. He slid two of his cards to the bottom of the deck and drew two more. “How about it? You gonna fold?” Bucky grinned a little, imagining Steve’s indignant scoff. “You’re not gonna fold. Okay then. Call.”

He laid his cards on the table, then flipped over the cards he’d dealt Steve.

“Bust,” he grinned, his sour mood fading a little. “You never were any good at this. You have the worst luck at poker.”

Bucky grew quiet as he picked up the cards to shuffle them again. “Pretty good luck at love though.” He felt a sad grin pull at his lips. “‘Bout time, right?”

He cleared his throat and shifted in his seat. "You remember that time I got drafted?" he muttered as he dealt the cards again. “You were so angry. You wanted nothin' more than to ship out with me. 'Got no right to do any less,' you said. And then you went and proved the whole world was wrong about you, that you were meant to be there, that all you needed was a chance. Pulled my ass right out of the fire and when we walked back into that Allied camp...they all stared at you. No one knew what to think, what to do. So I told them. 'Let's hear it for Captain America!' And everyone finally started to realize what I had known since the day we met in that alley. That you were...you were somethin’. Somethin' good and decent and worth fighting for. Worth following. And some people...well, some people they might envy that. Get a little jealous that the...what'd they call you? The showgirl?" He racked his brain, but that particular detail was lost to time and the soup that was his memory. "Well...whatever they called you. Some guys might have thought that it wasn't right, you gettin' all the credit and attention, even if you were the only reason any of us made it back." He shook his head. "I never did, though. None of that ever bothered me. I figured it was only right, you know. You earned that recognition and it was long overdue. I never envied you one bit. The outside finally matched the inside and I was just so damn proud. And after, when people started listening to you and bringing you in and you finally got the respect you deserved. I was so proud." He smiled at the memory. "Maybe a little smug, for seein' it before anybody else." He chuckled ruefully at the admission. "No. No, I've never envied you. Not even when your path to the future was...well, we'll just call it a little less eventful than mine." He sighed again, giving up on pretending to shuffle or deal or whatever the hell he’d been doing with the cards, the truth weighing on him.

"I never envied you," he repeated, "until now."

He leaned back and thumped his head against the wall. "Do you even know how lucky you are?" he muttered. "Not that you don't deserve someone great. You do. Pick any person on this godforsaken rock and they’d have to be nuts not to trip over themselves to make you happy. And I'm happy for you. Darcy is..." his voice trailed off and he closed his eyes. "Darcy's..." he whispered. He opened his eyes again, leaning forward and clearing his throat. "Well. You know my opinion on Darcy. I've chewed your ear off enough about it." He shot a half-hearted glare at Steve. "Thanks for that, by the way. Could've given me a clue, told me to shut up about it. Could have just  _ told _ me. Why didn’t you tell me, Steve?"

He fell silent, sifting through the anger that bubbled up in his chest at the thought, acknowledged it silently, then let it go.

"I am happy for you, Steve. I really, truly am. But I swear to god if you hurt her, I will end you and I won't even think twice about it." He paused. "It goes the other way too, you know. She hurts you and I...well. I don't know if there's anything Darcy could ever do that I couldn't forgive." His laugh was bitter. "So that's where  _ you _ stand, I guess."

“You’re probably wondering why I’d say this now. Why not before or when you wake up?” The bitter laugh held an icy edge to it this time. “Because you’d give me those puppydog eyes of yours and I’d cave. Chicken out, mutter something stupid and drop the subject forever. Or worse - you’d let me say my peace...and then you’d give her up. I know you, I know you’d do it. And that’s nothin’ against Darcy or how you feel about her. But you’d sacrifice your life in a heartbeat if you thought it was worth it. You already have, more than once.” He shook his head. “So this is it. The only time I’ll ever talk about. Sorry you had to sleep through it.”

He scrubbed his face again. "God, I'm a mess. You should really wake up, you're missing a helluva show here, pal."

The steady beeps from the machines were Steve's only response.

“If I were a better man, maybe I’d fight for her.” He set the deck of cards on the tray and nodded at them. “Maybe I’d cut the deck. Say high card gets Darcy. And maybe, if we were goin’ two rounds out of three, I’d win.” He shook his head and looked down at his feet, leaning forward on and rubbing his hands together. “But I’m not,” he whispered. “So. This is me. Giving her up.” He looked up at Steve and smiled, sadly. “The better man wins.”

The room was silent for a few minutes, save the soft beeps of Steve’s monitors. Bucky scrubbed his face and leaned back, thumping his head against the wall again. He jumped at a knock at the door.

“Hey man,” Sam said, leaning in. “How’s it going?”

“Hey.” Bucky made to get up, but Sam waved him down. “You’re back.”

“Yeah, Nat called. Said there was something here she needed help on. Know anything about that?”

Bucky’s brow furrowed in confusion. “I haven’t seen Nat since-”

His reply was cut off by a shriek in the hallway.

“FIRREEEEEEEE! HEEEEEEEEEELP!”

Bucky bolted to his feet so quickly his chair knocked backward into the wall and fell onto it’s side. “That’s Darcy,” he snapped at Sam as he rushed out into the hall. He sprinted towards the sound of Darcy’s voice, Sam hot on his heels.

They rounded the corner and found Darcy squaring off again two orderlies, both more than twice her size. Nurse Hawley was in a twitching heap on the floor, clearly a victim of Darcy’s infamous taser. One of the orderlies lunged at Darcy, grabbing her by the hair and yanking her to the ground.

Bucky launched himself at the man with a feral snarl, tackling him and giving Darcy room to get away.

“Get outta here, Darce!” he barked, reeling back to punch the orderly in the face. His first hit landed, and the orderly’s gaze went glassy as they struggled on the floor. Bucky hit him again for good measure and the man passed out. Bucky spun quickly, checking to see that Darcy had made it away safely. She was pressed against the wall, catching her breath and Bucky moved to get in front of her, defending her position.

Sam struggled against the other orderly, grunting with exertion as they grappled. Bucky scrambled to his feet as Sam threw an elbow back, catching the orderly in the face. Nurse Hawley came to, and shakily climbed to her feet before slamming a syringe into the meat of Sam’s thigh.

“AAAAAGGGGHHH!” Sam yelled, probably more out of surprise than pain, as he threw himself backward and smashed the orderly into the wall, knocking him out. The orderly slid to the ground as Sam yanked the syringe out of his leg. 

A fist came out of nowhere, slamming into Nurse Hawley and she crumpled to the ground.

“Steve!” Darcy yelled, rushing past Bucky to get to him. “You’re awake!”

Steve staggered into Darcy’s arms, holding his side. Darcy wilted a little under his weight but held firm and stayed upright.

“Darcy,” Steve gasped. 

“It’s okay, Steve,” she reassured. “You’re okay.”

“I think I tore my stitches,” Steve said quietly, then slumped against her as he passed out.


	14. Chapter 14

Darcy staggered a little under Steve's weight as he passed out again, but remained upright. If the circumstances were different, she'd probably gloat about being able to support 250 pounds of unconscious super-soldier despite any real affinity for the gym, but right now all she cared about was whether or not another HYDRA agent was going to pop up out of nowhere and attack her.

She glanced around for her taser and saw it on the ground a few yards away. Shit. There was no way she'd be able to grab it and hang on to Steve. If she leaned down, they were both going to hit the floor, which really wasn’t an option.

Darcy’s heart rate spiked as she head the elevator ding. Natasha and Bob rushed out, weapons drawn. Darcy breathed a sigh of relief at the additional backup and shifted to get a better grip on Steve.

"Stand down," Bucky gasped from somewhere on the ground near Sam. "We got it."

Bob lowered his weapon while Natasha stayed still, her eyes sweeping the scene.

"Just these three?" she asked.

"You were expecting more?" Bucky asked, incredulous as he got up and dusted himself off.

"I always expect more," Natasha replied. She nodded at Bob. "Can you secure these guys?"

"Sam?" Bucky called.

"I'm good," Sam replied. He'd moved into the corner, the wall covering his back while he assessed the damage to his leg. He swore under his breath. "I'm gonna need some help getting up though. My whole leg is numb." He groaned. “Do I even want to ask what was in that syringe?” 

Bucky plucked it out of Hawley’s unconscious grip and peered at it, then started searching her pockets for the vial the syringe might have been filled from. He made an indifferent noise when he read the label on the vial he retrieved from her pocket.

“Gimme the bad news,” Sam said.

Bucky grinned at him. “Well, you might gain the ability to talk to birds soon.”

Sam groaned as Bucky bagged the syringe and the vial to send for testing. 

“You’re gonna be fine, ya big baby,” Bucky said.

Relieved that the situation was at least somewhat under control and that there weren’t any other more pressing concerns for the group, Darcy made her presence known.

"Guys? Little help!" she called, trying to maneuver Steve into another corner or at least in the direction of his room.

Bucky was at her side in a moment, taking Steve's dead weight from her. He shifted Steve onto his left side and cupped her face with his right hand. He gently tilted her head up and assessed her.

"You alright?" he asked, his voice insistent and tight.

She sagged a little into him and didn't care who saw it. Steve was awake now, sort of. Hopefully, she could drop the act sooner rather than later. And honestly, she was exhausted. She really just wanted to crawl into Bucky’s arms and sleep for another week. "Yeah," she replied, quietly, grabbing his hand and keeping it in place at her cheek. If she nuzzled him just a little, that was her business. "Just, you know. Steve's heavier than he looks."

"Tell me about it," Sam grumbled, as Natasha helped him to his feet. He attempted to put some weight on the leg that Hawley had stabbed and winced. "Is there anyone left in this place that we haven't handcuffed that could take a look at this?"

Bob looked up from securing the last unconscious orderly. "I can, until we can get some more coverage up here from another level." He moved to take Sam's weight from Natasha and led Sam into an empty room.

“Darcy,” Bucky murmured, his eyes full of concern and...well, Darcy was probably just imagining that other thing. “Come on, let’s get this guy back to bed and you into a chair or something, okay?” he said, laser focused on Darcy. He lead her back to Steve’s room and began settling Steve back into bed. Darcy pulled the sheets up to keep Steve warm and winced at the carnage that used to be his IV.

“That’s gonna leave a mark,” she muttered.

“You really scared me, Darce.”

Darcy’s tore her eyes away from Steve’s IV to look at Bucky.

“I heard your scream and…” Bucky’s voice trailed off and he shrugged. “Guess Steve did too.” He gave her a ‘what can you do’ grin that slipped off his face as quickly as it appeared.

She gripped the edge of the sheet that was in her hand, the feel of the fabric anchoring her in the moment so she didn’t spiral off into a thousand different interpretations of what that statement meant.

_ Tell him. _

She took a deep breath. “Bucky, I have to tell you something.”

He nodded. “I have to tell you something, too.”

“Okay…” She tried to smile as she fought down the butterflies in her stomach. “Want to flip a coin or something?”

Bucky punched out a breath that might have been a laugh if his expression wasn’t so serious.

“No, no. You go ahead.”

“Okay.” She took a deep breath and threw up a quick prayer to Thor and Frigga and anyone else who might be listening that she wasn’t about to completely torpedo her friendship with Bucky.

“The thing is - about me and Steve. Well. We, uh…” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened her eyes again, Bucky’s eyes were still on her, still full of concern and unwavering affection. She could get used to that look.

“Bucky, I-”

"I'm not letting anyone else on this floor until I've cleared them personally. What a shitshow." Natasha said as she swept into the room.

Darcy sighed and hung her head. This day sucked and it wasn’t even lunchtime.

Bucky blinked at the interruption, then turned to glare at Natasha. "What the hell happened?" he snapped. "Darcy could have seriously been hurt."

Darcy could feel a headache forming behind her eyes and tried to blink it away. So much for a shot at honesty. Her confession - and whatever it was that Bucky wanted to tell her - would have to wait. "Good thing I'm trigger happy with the taser then," Darcy said, with a grim smile.

Steve groaned and his eyes fluttered open. His looked around the room. "Darcy?" he asked, his voice laced with confusion.

"Hey," she said, flicking a glance at Natasha and leaning in to Steve's side.

Steve stared at her, his eyes still glassy with fatigue and confusion. Darcy figured he probably still had more than a few painkillers in his system, too. "What are you doing here?" he slurred.

"She's been worried about you," Bucky replied, his voice flat.

Steve's groggy gaze scrunched as he turned his head to look at Bucky. "Why?"

Bucky snorted. "Her fiancé got shot off a building and has been unconscious for a week. No idea why she'd be concerned at all."

"Who's that?"

Darcy couldn't stop the groan that escaped her and Natasha closed her eyes briefly. Leave it to Steve to muck up the plan that had been mucking up Darcy's entire life for the last week. Honestly, she should leave the destruction of her career and character to the professionals.

Bucky slowly turned to face Steve fully. "What do you mean, 'who's that.'" His voice held a warning. Clearly, Bucky felt that if Steve was joking, it wasn't funny.

None of this was funny.

Steve looked back to Darcy. "I didn't know you'd gotten engaged - who's hurt? Was it in the lab heist?"

Darcy's eyes went wide. "Oh. Uh-"

"You can't be serious," Bucky snapped, saving Darcy from having to come up with yet another lie on the fly. She'd had nothing to do for an entire week - why hadn't she thought up some contingencies?

Natasha stepped forward. "James-"

"You don't remember your own fiancée?" Bucky continued.

Steve's eyes flew open in disbelief. "My-my what?" he stammered.

"Unbelievable," Bucky muttered and as he threw up his hands. "Un-fucking-believable." He started to pace.

Darcy grew a little nervous at the look on Bucky's face and felt tears prick at her eyes. She had to defuse this...somehow. "Bucky-"

Bucky didn't hear her. "I can't-"

"Talk a walk, Barnes," Natasha ordered.

He spun to face Nat. "What?"

"You heard me."

Bucky looked to Darcy, the scowl on his face causing her to shrink back. She blinked rapidly, trying to clear the tears that had formed.

Suddenly, Bucky's expression cleared. "Darcy, I-"

"Now. Barnes." Natasha ordered. Her voice softened a little as she stepped in between him and Darcy. "Go check on Sam."

Darcy looked away from Bucky, only for her gaze to fall on Steve, who still looked as confused as ever.

Bucky nodded at Natasha. "Okay."

Natasha nodded back, then walked him to the door and closed it behind him.

Darcy dug the heels of her hands into her eyes.

_ Just treat it like the last time Jane blew up the lab - one problem at a time. _

She could do this. She could totally do this.

Her hands fell to her sides and she opened her eyes to find Steve staring at her, his eyes basically begging her to make the world make sense again.

She couldn't fucking do this.

"So, Steve," Natasha said, her voice cutting through the tension that had built up in the room. "How ya feeling?"

Steve's gaze slid to Natasha and he narrowed his eyes at her. "Like I fell off a building."

"Well, you did fall off a building so..." Darcy's voice trailed off as Steve looked at her with narrowed eyes and she regretted making her presence known. She also regretted every decision that led her to this point up to and including stealing that juice pop from Timmy Dugan in the first grade because he was the grandson of a Howlie and therefore this was all _ his _ fault.

"Hi," Darcy squeaked as Steve's righteous gaze bored into her.

"Stop scaring the scientist, Steve," Natasha scolded. "She's the only reason the building is still standing."

"Would someone please start making sense?" Steve asked quietly. "Waking up in a hospital where nothing makes sense is not my favorite experience and yet I somehow keep having it."

The witty and completely rude retort died on Darcy's tongue at the look on Steve's face. "Sorry, Steve," she muttered. She looked to Natasha. "Are we clear or...?"

“Steve, you have amnesia,” Natasha said.

Steve’s eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. “What?”

“_What? _” Darcy hissed.

Natasha shrugged. “Should clear up in a few days.”

“Can we talk?” Darcy said, grabbing Natasha’s arm and shoving her towards the door. Darcy looked back at Steve and threw him a smile. “One moment!” She pushed a very amused Natasha through the door and followed her out, moving them both down the hallway a little ways, but keeping the entrance to Steve’s room in sight.

“_Are you insane? _” Darcy hissed at her.

“You do realize I’m letting you do this, right?” Natasha said, grinning. “You’re not moving me anywhere against my will?”

“Does it matter?!” Darcy was pretty sure Nat had taken one too many hits to the head. “Nat - it was one thing when we needed the cover for me to stay in Steve’s room so you could do your fancy spy whodo and figure out what the hell was going on here. But Hawley played her hand, you have the HYDRA idiots in custody. It’s time to end this charade and go home.”

Nat raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure those three were the only ones?”

“I am not keeping up this story for another 15 months while you ferret out HYDRA bases,” Darcy snapped.

“And I’m not asking you to.” Natasha sighed. “An hour ago you were willing to give me another day.”

Darcy rolled her eyes. “That was before Steve woke up.”

Natasha leveled a look at her. “And what do you think will happen if you tell him the truth?”

Darcy narrowed her eyes. “I’m not following.”

“Steve is possibly the worst actor I’ve ever seen. He can’t pull off any kind of subterfuge, not long-term and especially not with people who know him and he’s close with.”

Darcy privately thought Natasha wasn’t giving Steve enough credit - just because he preferred direct action to spycraft didn’t mean he was necessarily _ bad _ at it. She suspected he played at being worse than he really was - he disliked it so much he manipulated the situation so he would rarely have to do it.

“If you tell him the truth, he won’t be able to pretend,” Natasha continued. “Not about something like this.”

“I’m not sure that’s true,” Darcy replied. Natasha gave her a pitying look.

Darcy sighed. What did she know? Natasha was the master spy, not her.

She glanced at her watch. “It’s almost noon - you have until this time tomorrow to find anyone else in this hospital that might be involved. Then I’m telling him.”

“Thank you, Darcy.” 

“When this is over, you people need to get your shit together,” Darcy said. “It never should have come to this.” She turned and walked away, leaving a stunned Natasha alone in the hall.

She opened Steve’s door to find him fiddling with the broken IV.

“You haven’t tried to make a break for it?” she asked, trying for a smile. It felt brittle, but Steve wasn’t looking at her anyway.

Steve voice was resigned. “If I really do have amnesia, this is the best place for me to be, right?”

Darcy hesitated, chewing on her lip as she tentatively sat down in the chair next to the bed. “Nat...might have been a little hasty. I haven’t heard the docs say anything about that even being a remote possibility.”

Steve looked at her with confusion. “But-”

“Do you trust me?”

Steve stared at her for a moment, then nodded.

“Please trust me when I say it will make more sense tomorrow?”

Steve was quiet for a long time, considering Darcy’s request. She could practically see the wheels turning in his head as he put his tactitan’s mind to work, trying to figure out what was going on here.

“Okay, Darcy. I can do that,” he said, finally. “Have...have you really been here all week?”

Darcy grinned. “The first time I’ve left was this morning and that was only because I made Bucky pinky-promise to not leave.” She snorted softly. “Some promise that was. I give out one little cry for help and he abandoned you. So that’s where _ you _ stand, I guess.”

A tiny worry line appeared between Steve’s eyes. His gaze went unfocused as he appeared to be trying to puzzle something out. “What did you say?”

“What, just now?” she asked.

“‘So that’s where you stand, I guess.’ I think...I think Bucky was talking to me. But what he said didn’t make any sense.”

“Does Bucky ever make any sense?” Darcy teased.

Steve didn’t laugh. “He said...he said...” Steve looked around the room, pausing as his eyes landed on the deck of cards strewn on the table. “High card gets Darcy,” he whispered.

Darcy gaped at him. “Uh...what?”

Steve blinked. “Nothing.”

“That was definitely not nothing,” Darcy argued.

Steve shook his head. “I was probably dreaming.” He laid his head back against the pillows and closed his eyes. 

It was a shit way to get out of a conversation, and Darcy certainly wasn’t convinced, but wasn’t going to argue with him. If Bucky had been talking to Steve, it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility that Steve had heard him. But did Bucky seriously see Darcy as a prize to be won in a card game? Her blood boiled at the thought, but she reigned the feeling in. She didn’t have all the information - and Steve himself admitted he might have dreamt the entire thing. No point in getting worked up over the scraps of information she was working with.

Besides, the Bucky she knew wouldn’t ever do something like that.

Right?

She needed a real night’s sleep before she thought anymore about anything of consequence and made a mental note not to get anywhere near a lab anywhere in the near future. Good thing she had a backlog of vacation time she hadn’t used and a super understanding boss.

Steve’s stomach rumbled, breaking the silence in the room. 

Darcy laughed. “Press that little red call button, Steve. Let’s see if we can get you some real food for lunch.”


	15. Chapter 15

Bucky wandered down the hall in a daze, still not quite comprehending what just happened. Steve had amnesia? How the hell - he hadn’t hit his head that they knew of. Sure, he’d fallen off a building, but he pulled that sort of stunt all the time. And with the amount of time he’d been out of it, the serum should have fixed it...right? Then again, he _ had _ been healing more slowly than normal. Maybe this was just part of that. 

He’d be fine eventually. He had to be.

Bucky blinked. He'd gotten all the way to the end of the hallway and had been staring out the window at the grounds. He must have walked right past the room Bob was patching Sam up in. Bob must still be working on Sam’s leg - one of them would have harassed him loudly otherwise. He turned and made his way pack, peeking into every room as he passed, looking for the others.

"Man, get your brooding ass in here. Your pacing is making me nervous!"

Or Sam _ had _ seen him the first time and had let him go. Bucky ducked into the room, feeling silly. He gave Bob a quick nod before sinking down into the chair next to the bed and burying his head in his hands.

Sam moved his injured leg slowly, stretching it out in front of him. "We're sure that stuff isn't going to make me grow feathers or something?"

Bob shrugged. "Hasn't happened in any of the tests so far. Or they haven't written it down if it has."

Sam muttered under his breath so quietly Bucky only caught a few curses directed towards Chem 5's nonsense. Creative too - Sam was picking up Clint's habit of combining swear words from multiple languages.

And to think - he was such a nice boy when he met the Avengers.

Sam grunted a little as he lowered his leg back to the bed. "How's Steve?" he bit out as he winced through the pain.

Bucky's laugh was bitter as he looked up at Bob and Sam. "He has amnesia."

The room fell silent as the two turned to gape at Bucky in unison.

"Yeah."

"He doesn't remember...anything?" Sam asked in disbelief.

"Must be contagious," Bob said.

"Man!" Sam scolded.

Bucky bust out laughing. The stress of it all must have finally gotten to him - he was practically giddy with it.

"Are you okay?" Sam asked, raising an eyebrow. Bucky didn’t know how he did it, but Sam could somehow manage to ask a question like that and make it a perfect blend of genuine concern and raging, critical sarcasm. Bucky liked that about him.

"Oh I'm just perfect," Bucky replied, his voice dripping with his own sarcasm. "Cloud nine, can't you tell?" He forced back the memory of Darcy's tear-filled gaze. He'd done that - he'd been an asshole and made her cry. As if she needed any of his bullshit on top of everything else she had to deal with.

"Seriously," Sam said, shifting in the bed so he could look at Bucky without craning his neck. "What's the deal with Steve?"

Bucky hesitated. Was this something Darcy would want spread around? The Avengers were notorious gossips - Bob perhaps especially so. But, still. They were also friends - practically family, in as much as anyone in this place had a family.

He sighed. "He doesn't remember Darcy."

Bob groaned. "No."

"Well," Bucky conceded, "he remembers her. He just doesn't remember being engaged to her. From what I could gather before Natasha threw me out of the room, he doesn't remember ever being anything more than friends with her."

"Shit," Sam said.

"Yeah," Bucky agreed.

"How's Darcy?" Bob asked.

"Trying not to cry."

"Shit," Bob said.

"Yeah," Bucky agreed. This day was terrible and it was barely even lunchtime. Was it really only this morning that Darcy had woken up in his arms?

He pushed the thought away. Now wasn't the time for that particular bit of self-loathing.

Sam gave Bucky a knowing look. "Why'd Nat throw you out?"

Bucky shifted uncomfortably. "Oh. Well. You know. Emotions were running high."

"Uh huh. What'd you do?"

"Nothing!" Bucky insisted. He wilted under Sam's glare. "I might have yelled at Steve for forgetting Darcy."

"Dammit Barnes."

"I know, okay? I know."

"Is that why Darcy was crying?" Bob asked.

"Maybe. Probably."

"So how are you going to fix it?"

"Stick Steve in the freezer and have Shuri deal with it?"

"Try again," Bob said, clearly fighting a smile at Bucky's flippantly hopeful response.

"I don't know. I'll think of something."

* * *

Bucky made his way back down the hall towards Steve’s room. It had been a few hours - surely the ban Natasha had placed didn’t still apply, right? He needed to apologize to Darcy and Steve for his reaction to Steve’s amnesia and could only hope that they were both still willing to speak to him at this point.

He turned the corner and stopped in his tracks. Darcy was just outside of Steve’s room, making tea for herself at the little coffee nook in the hallway. He glanced towards Steve’s room and saw that the door was mostly closed. Darcy looked up from her tea and nodded at him.

“Steve’s asleep.”

Bucky took that as an invitation to approach and took a few steps towards her, so they could talk without involving the entire hallway.

“He hasn’t had enough of that?”

Darcy chuckled. “Guess not.” She motioned to the kettle. “Tea? Jane brought me a bunch of that Russian Caravan stuff the other day.”

“Ahh, my weakness.”

Darcy grinned. “I know. Damn you for getting me addicted.”

Bucky returned the smile, the tightness in his chest loosening at Darcy’s easy manner with him. Maybe she didn’t hate him after all. “I’m good, but thanks.” He picked at the edge of the counter, where a tiny bit of the paint was chipping away to reveal the wooden chipboard underneath. One would think that a facility this advanced and this well funded could afford something better constructed. One would be wrong.

Bucky pushed the odd thought away and focused on Darcy, who was gently smiling at him over her mug as she leaned back against the counter. 

“Look, Darcy...I have to apologize.”

Darcy gave him a confused look. “For what?”

“Earlier. I was outta line. I was upset at the news of Steve’s amnesia, but that’s on me. I shouldn’t have gone off like I did and Nat was right to toss me from the room.”

Darcy sighed and stared into her tea. “Bucky, you have nothing to apologize for,” she muttered.

“I just...I know what it’s like to…” He shook his head, unable to force the feeling into words and shove them past his lips. He settled for something else. “I never wanted that for anyone else, let alone you two. Steve’s my best friend. And you. Well. You’re you.” He smiled. “Steve’s a lucky guy.”

Darcy took a deep breath and set her tea down on the counter so she could face him fully. “Bucky, in all of this, you’ve been…” Darcy’s laugh was sharp and dispirited. “You’ve been the absolute best. I would not have gotten through this week without you. So, at this point, you’ve got pretty much a free pass to react however you want.” She chewed on her lip and looked away, staring at Steve’s door. “You’ve been...you’ve been a really good friend. Maybe the only one I’ve got right now.”

That didn’t sound right. “Darce, you’ve got lots of friends. Plenty of people around here who love you.”

“Yeah.”

“What about Jane or Bob?” he insisted. “You three are usually pretty inseparable.”

Darcy snorted. “Did you see the wedding monstrosity they picked out for me? It’s like they’ve never even met me.”

Bucky grimaced at the memory. “They’re excited,” he offered. It sounded lame even to him, but he knew for a fact that Jane and Bob meant well.

“I love them, I do. And I know they’re excited, it’s fine, honest. I’m just feeling a little sorry for myself at the moment. It’s been _ a week_.”

“Very true. But hey - even if you didn’t have anyone else. You’ve got Steve.”

“I don’t have anybody,” Darcy muttered.

Bucky chose to ignore that statement as he turned to lean against the counter next to Darcy and nudged her gently with his shoulder. “You’ve got me.”

Darcy looked up at him. She was quiet for a long time and Bucky let her work through her thoughts as she considered him.

Finally, she broke the silence. “If I ask you something, do you promise to give me an honest answer?”

“Of course. Always.”

Darcy took a deep breath and appeared to steel herself. She paused a moment, then met his gaze fully. “Can you give me _ any _ reason why I shouldn’t marry Steve?”

Bucky blinked. Of all the questions she could have asked him…

Of course, his mind immediately supplied a reason. He could do it - this was his opening, right here. He could tell her everything he felt, throw himself on her mercy. Her eyes plead with him for honesty and he could provide it. He could just...tell her the truth, and let things play out as they would.

_ You shouldn’t marry Steve because I love you, too. You should marry me. _

It was the most selfish of all reasons he could possibly give, one that was immediately both unfair and unforgivable. And it was a reason that Bucky could never, ever voice to anyone - especially Darcy.

“I can’t,” he whispered, honestly. He couldn’t give her a reason, because there was no reason he could give that wouldn’t devastate everyone involved. He wouldn’t wreck her life with Steve. He just wouldn’t.

The tiniest flicker of emotion flitted across Darcy’s face before her entire expression went blank. She nodded and turned back to the counter to pick up her tea.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Barnes.”

Darcy slipped back into Steve’s room and closed the door before her, leaving Bucky alone in the hall.


	16. Chapter 16

"All right, big guy. What do you say we get some fresh air?"

Steve looked up at her from the book he'd been flipping through. "What?"

Darcy grinned. "You've flipped that page back and forth six times in the last 10 minutes and sighed three times. You're itching to get out of here."

Steve flushed a little. "Is it that obvious?"

Darcy shrugged. "Only to those who know you. I'm surprised you've lasted this long."

A worried crease formed in Steve's brow. "And...you know me well?"

Darcy grimaced. "As well as you remember. We're friends, right? We've hung out, done lunch. I've kicked your ass in Scrabble and you got me back at Pictionary."

"But...Bucky said-"

Darcy cut him off. "Didn't anyone ever tell you to never listen to Bucky?"

Steve grinned at that. "My ma. His sister. Our entire unit, during the war."

"Well there you go." She pulled herself out of the chair and poked her head into the hallway. She spotted a wheelchair up for grabs a few yards away and hurried to grab it. Upon wheeling it into the room Steve's eyes lit up.

"You weren't kidding. You're breaking me out."

"Don't get excited," Darcy cautioned. "I'm taking you downstairs to the coffeeshop, where we'll spend as much time as it takes to consume two beverages each and then we're coming back."

"You're the best," Steve said through gritted teeth as he maneuvered himself up and into a sitting position with his legs swung over the side of the bed.

"Abs still sore?"

"I'm healing," he said. "Don't know what's taking so damn long though."

"Well...you were shot," Darcy offered.

"I've had worse," Steve countered. "Didn't take this long when I was recovering from the helicarrier incident."

"Were your injuries this bad?"

"Worse."

Darcy hummed, considering the situation as Steve slowly lowered himself into the wheelchair. She deftly moved his IV to the little pole on the chair, checked to make sure none of his tubes were caught in any wheels or brakes, then pushed him into the hallway. She pushed the button to call the elevator.

"Well," she said as they waited, "maybe you'll know more after today. The doctors are due to stop in this afternoon, you can ask them then."

"We," Steve said.

"Pardon?"

Steve turned gingerly so he could see her where she was standing behind his chair. "We," he repeated. "You'll be there too, right?"

Darcy shifted uneasily. "Do you want me there?"

Steve shrugged. "It would be nice to have someone with me."

"Well...yeah, sure. But Bucky or Sam or Natasha - anyone could stay, really."

Steve nodded. "Yeah. It's just..." He trailed off, then smiled. "If you're around, that would be great."

Darcy didn't reply, but her mind was racing. What was Steve getting at? Surely, he wasn't seriously considering the idea of the two of them...?

Then again, why wouldn't he? She was awesome. Besides, they'd always been friends - and now he'd been told by several people he trusted that they were engaged. Even if he'd never considered the idea before, maybe he was starting to now.

If Darcy hadn't already been in love with Steve's best friend, maybe she would have considered it, too.

Her brain flatlined. No, she wouldn't have considered it - the idea of her and Steve just did not compute.

The ding of the elevator pulled Darcy from her thoughts and she blinked a few times to get herself back into the present. She wheeled Steve around and backed into the elevator, pushing the button for the cafe's floor.

"Excited for not-patient food?" she asked, trying to break the weird silence.

Steve grinned. "It's not that bad."

Darcy leaned to Steve's side to give him a knowing look.

"Okay," he admitted. "Maybe it's kinda bad. But I've only been awake for a day, so it's not like I'm used to it yet or anything."

"Have you ever spent this long in a hospital when you were conscious?"

"Not recently."

Darcy took that to mean "not since I jumped into Howard Stark's beefcake machine" and didn't press further. She just grinned at him as the elevator doors opened to the thankfully empty cafe.

"I'm surprised you haven't made a break for it yet."

Steve shrugged. "Seemed like a good idea to stick around for a bit."

"How long is that feeling going to last?"

"Maybe another day."

Darcy laughed and stopped them just short of the counter. "Pick your poison."

Steve considered the menu for a moment. "Dirty chai latte. Coconut milk, no water."

"Look at you, gettin' fancy." Darcy placed their order then wheeled Steve over to a table while she waited for their drinks.

When their drinks were ready, Darcy turned back to the table to find Natasha, Bucky, and Sam sitting with Steve.

"Hey Darcy," Natasha said, with a smile that made Darcy instantly wary.

"Natasha." Darcy set Steve's drink down in front of him, then pointedly looked at her watch.

Natasha's grin only grew. "I was just telling Steve that we have an update on our friends from yesterday."

"Oh? Do tell." Darcy slid into the seat next to Bucky who immediately bumped her knee with his. She gave him a friendly bump back. No matter how annoyed she'd been with him the day before, she couldn't really stay mad at him. Her question hadn't been fair in the slightest - and his answer meant that he didn't return her feelings. She'd been projecting her feelings onto him this entire time and she was lucky that he either hadn't caught on or assumed it was her grief over Steve or something.

He was still never going to speak to her again when Nat dropped the truth here in a moment, but Darcy could at least pretend for another few minutes.

"We're not sure we have the entire picture just yet. Hawley's not talking - granted a broken jaw will do that to a person, but still." Natasha shot Bucky a slightly annoyed glare. Bucky gave her his best shit-eating grin in return.

"She threatened Darcy," Bucky offered, by way of explanation.

Natasha ignored him. "One of her flunkies though - he's singing like a canary. Apparently he wasn't too fond of the beating he received from Sam and doesn't want another. He's also not particularly enamored with the idea of prison."

"Probably shouldn't have joined HYDRA then," Sam muttered, still clearly annoyed at getting injected with...whatever he was injected with yesterday.

"What was the plan, anyway?" Darcy asked, trying to steer the conversation in a direction that would let her stop with this fiction they'd been carrying on.

"Kidnap Steve and brainwash him into doing HYDRA's bidding," Natasha said.

Bucky went very, very still next to Darcy. She reached for his hand under the table and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"Did they even think they'd be able to?" Sam asked.

Bucky shook his head, his expression calm but his grip on Darcy's hand unrelenting. Good thing she gave him her right hand - she might not be able to hold a pen in her left for a few days. Ouch.

"Most of HYDRA's knowledge on the subject died with Zola," he said. "And none of the tech I knew about survived."

"We made sure of that," Steve agreed.

Natasha shrugged. "There were other scientists, other methods. None that were nearly as effective, but that didn't stop them from trying. But in the event that they couldn't brainwash Steve, the plan was to steal genetic samples and clone him. Raise the clone to do their bidding, then release him back to us. The perfect mole."

Darcy shuddered at the thought, drawing a sharp glance from Bucky.

"Are we sure they didn't get any samples?" Sam asked. "They may have defaulted to Plan B when they realized they weren't going to be able to get Steve out of the building."

"We're looking into it, but it sounds like they were still confident they'd get him. They'd introduced a toxin to slow his healing to give them more time to figure it out." She looked at Steve. "It'll be out of your system by tomorrow, now that they're not dosing you with it anymore. You'll start healing normally soon." Natasha nodded at Darcy. "Good thing you were around so much - they didn't want to make a move with you in the room."

Darcy shook her head. "Not sure why that even worked - they could have easily just taken me out or kidnapped me, too."

"You were the variable they never planned for," Natasha said. "And give yourself some credit. Your reputation precedes you - just about everyone who works with or for the Avengers has heard Thor talk about how you bested him with your taser at one point or another."

Darcy rolled her eyes. "One time and the big guy won't let it go," she muttered. "So we're all clear? Crisis averted?"

Natasha nodded. "Crisis averted. For now."

"That's a relief," Steve said.

Sam grinned at him. "Darcy's not just your fiancée, she's your guardian angel!"

Darcy cringed. "About that-"

"I wish I could remember," Steve murmured.

"It'll come back," Bucky said, his voice firm.

"The thing is-"

"We've got access to the best medicine, the best doctors, the most advanced technology in the world," Bucky continued. "They helped me. They know what they're doing when it comes to this sort of thing."

"Damn right," Sam agreed. Steve nodded, clearly coming around to the idea.

"Guys, no-"

"And...And I'll help," Bucky's voice wavered slightly and Natasha raised an eyebrow. "I know the work, the effort. I'll be there for you guys, every step of the way."

"I know you will, Buck," Steve said, reaching out and squeezing Bucky's shoulder.

Darcy shot Natasha a panicked look, but Natasha only sat back in her chair and observed the conversation.

"And worst case...If you never remember..." Bucky gave Darcy a sad smile and gently squeezed her hand before letting it go. "You've got the rest of your lives to make new memories, right?"

"Steve and I were never engaged, okay?!?" Darcy exclaimed. "I made it up."

Bucky blinked. "You - what?"

"I made it up." Darcy repeated.

Steve shook his head. "Darcy, it's okay, we're going to work on it. You don't have to try to-"

"I woke up after the attack on the lab," Darcy continued, cutting Steve off. "I was fine, so I went to check myself out. I overheard Hawley threatening Steve. I didn't know who else was in the building, who else was injured. So I hacked the database and found out that Steve had Bucky listed as his emergency contact. That wouldn't help, because Bucky was unconscious in another room and they certainly weren't going to let me in, not without a reason. Granddaughter or great-niece wouldn't work because they could force me to take a DNA test or something. The only option was to change your file to list me as your fiancée and then not move from your side until someone could help." Darcy drew a shaky breath. "It was never supposed to go as far as it did, but...it was just one thing after another this week and..." Tears sprung to her eyes and Darcy didn't bother wiping them away. Let them fall - and if it made anyone at the table uncomfortable, too damn bad.

The table was silent as the Avengers all looked at each other.

"You've been keeping up this story for an entire week?" Steve asked, finally.

"Yeah."

"And no one knew?"

Darcy looked at Natasha, who stared impassively back. When Natasha didn't offer any help whatsoever, Darcy snorted.

"No. No one knew."

"Why-" Steve started.

"With all the brainpower in this place - the geniuses and the master tacticians and the super spies - why didn't anyone ever consider the hospital to be a soft target?" Darcy countered. "You guys are laid up in here for long periods of time, sometimes unconscious, never in 100% condition. It never occurred to anyone that it would make a very tempting target?"

"She's right," Natasha said, quietly. "We've assumed for far too long that Avengers HQ is this impenetrable fortress. We've gotten sloppy."

Steve and Sam both launched into impassioned defenses of their tactics and strategy and reasoning, with Natasha countering every point with one of her own. The argument quickly moved to why Darcy needed to go to such lengths in the first place and how they would fix it going forward. The conversation was so rapid that Darcy just let it wash over her, tuning out the words until they were just noise buzzing in her ears.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Bucky asked her, ignoring the argument happening at the other side of the table.

"Maybe I didn't know how to tell you," she replied. "Or maybe I tried to tell you and you missed it." She looked at the others, who were still loudly bickering. "I have to go."

She pushed back from the table, leaving her half-empty cup behind.

"Darcy-"

"Bucky, back me up here. There's no way that implementing a system of that complexity on this scale will work. Simple is better."

Darcy slipped out of the cafe, and she was pretty sure no one at that table except for Bucky even noticed.


	17. Chapter 17

Bucky double checked his shoelaces and stood, stretching the muscles in his shoulder and neck. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, enjoying the feeling of the warm sunshine on his face. It was a small reprieve from how terrible he'd been feeling for days.

Granted, a lot of that was his own fault, but self-loathing was nothing new.

"You sure you're ready for all this, Steve?" Sam asked. "You've only been awake for a week."

Steve laughed. "Worried I'm still going to lap you, even in my supposedly weakened state?"

"Why do you have to go there, man?" Sam said, pretending to be offended. "I was trying to be nice."

"You can go take a nap first, if you're worried."

Bucky sighed and opened his eyes. So much for peace. He hadn't had peace since the morning just before everything had gone to hell.

But it was better not to think about that morning. Don't think about how nice it was to see Darcy in the early morning light, or how she scrunched up her nose at conversation before coffee.

Don't think about the realization he'd had or the guilt that ate away at him after.

"We gonna run or we gonna stand around yappin' all day?" he grumbled.

"Okay, grumpy cat, we hear you," Sam said with a good-natured grin. "Let's go."

The three started out on the trail that led around the perimeter of the compound. Bucky appreciated that it wasn't overrun with other people. The fact that it gave him an excuse to do his own security check was a bonus. HYDRA infiltrating their hospital bothered him to no small degree.

He'd been laid up in that hospital before.

Hell, he'd been unconscious in that hospital the same day Steve had been.

If things had gone just a little differently, they might have come for him instead of Steve.

And there wouldn't have been a Darcy rushing in to protect him.

Darcy, who had been there at all because she had been injured, too.

He stumbled over his own feet at the pang in his chest that accompanied the thought. He glanced quickly at the other two, who were still bickering. Steve's sharp eyes met his and began to slow his pace.

He really should have known better than to think Steve might have missed it.

Bucky waved at him to keep going. "I'm good. Just -" he motioned at himself. "In my head a little." He pointed to the side trail that wound through the woods. "I'm going to go this way, put the headphones in. Burn it off, you know?"

Steve's brow furrowed in concern, but Sam just nodded. "We'll be on the main path, if you want to catch up later."

Bucky nodded and watched them resume their run. He pulled out his phone and put an earpiece in his left ear. He didn't usually run with music, preferring to keep a close eye and ear on his surroundings instead, but there were days when he needed the extra distraction. Today, apparently, was shaping up to be one of those days.

The earpiece beeped to confirm the connection to his playlist and he hit shuffle without checking the title or artist. He only kept one playlist on his phone, and it was the one he usually connected to the gym's speakers while he worked the heavy bag. It would suffice for running today - he wasn't in the mood to think about music choices anyway. He just needed the noise.

The music started a steady beat and he matched the pace of his run to it, rushing through the trees on the more wooded part of the trail. He let the music take over and did his very best to simply turn his brain off.

He'd been doing that a lot this week, since Steve woke up and Darcy dropped her little bomb on them all.

That wasn't fair. He didn't blame Darcy for any of it, she was just doing her best to help a friend. But...that didn't ease the sting of it. It had been a long week, after all. Not only had he been recovering from his own injuries, he had been concerned for Steve - who hadn't been healing at the rate they expected, for reasons unknown at the time. He also spent the week kicking himself for being too late and missing his chance with Darcy, on top of the guilt of having those feelings for his best friend's girl, only to have the ground ripped out from under him in the revelation that none of it had been real in the first place. That Steve had been in danger the entire time and Darcy had been the one protecting him.

Darcy, who'd seen what no one else had and acted, without a concern for what it might mean for her.

He loved Darcy - more than he could properly articulate in his own head, let alone to her. That wasn’t in question here. It was everything else that had him twisted up inside. The conversation they'd had about their imagined weddings haunted him. He had convinced himself that it wasn't meant to be. He'd resigned himself to love forever unrequited and he had let her go. His brain - and his heart - couldn't undo that overnight.

He wondered how she was doing - had anyone checked on her? Surely Jane and Bob were there, right?

_ If you were really her friend, you would have checked on her by now. _

He tripped over his feet again at the appearance of that nasty thought. This time, he didn't catch his balance in time. He tumbled head over feet and rolled a little ways down the hill off the trail, landing with a thud against a sturdy tree trunk.

"Ow," he wheezed. He stayed still on his back for a moment to catch his breath and allow the sting of the fall to pass, closing his eyes and focusing on the music again.

_ If I'm the ship then you're the shore _  
_ If I'm the soldier you're the war _  
_ If I'm the soil then you're the seed _  
_ If I'm the puzzle, you're the piece that completes the picture _

"Fuck," he muttered, dragging himself to his feet and trudging back up the hill to the trail.

_ From up this close, I can't see a thing aside from you in front of me _

"That's it," he muttered again and dug the phone from his pocket. He hit pause on the music. "Fuckin' Hands Like Houses."

He made his way back to the compound, avoiding the main trail. It was the long way back, but he was in a mood and did not feel up to dealing with Steve and Sam or anyone else at the moment. One swipe of his keycard at the back door and he was back inside the gym. The lights flickered to life over the mats on the side and he considered working through this funky mood he was in on the heavy bag. He couldn't guarantee he'd only need one bag though. It was feeling more like a two or three bag kind of mood, but if he started spiraling it could easily add up to more. As far as he knew, Steve hadn't heard about the six Bucky had broken in one go while Steve was unconscious - and Bucky was going to keep it that way if he could. No need to hand Steve the satisfaction of knowing Bucky had beaten Steve's record. Especially when Bucky had dedicated so much time and effort to ribbing Steve over his record of five.

But - he really just needed to hit something, since running had been such a bust. At least in the gym, he was less likely to trip over his own two feet. 

He was a highly trained assassin for crying out loud. This was ridiculous.

He sighed and resigned himself to a likely four bag day as he made his way to the cubby he'd long ago claimed for himself along the wall. He pulled out his hand wraps and specialized gloves, gearing up for a long session.

He squared up in front of the bag that was already hanging, waiting for his abuse. There was a brief, absurd mental image of the bag trembling in fear - he pushed the thought away and focused.

Left right. Left. Left left right. Uppercut. Jab. Jab cross.

Inhale. Exhale.

Repeat.

"Just what the hell do you think you're doing?"

Bucky glanced over his shoulder to find Natasha standing at the edge of the mat, glaring at him.

"Hello to you, too," he said, resuming his combo and attempting to get into a rhythm. He was never going to get a halfway decent workout at this rate.

Left right. Left. Left. Hook.

"I have it on good authority that you haven't spoken to Darcy since that day in the hospital."

Uppercut. Left left right.

"There are plenty of days I don't see or speak to Darcy." Jab cross. "More often than not, actually. This week notwithstanding."

"And this week didn't change anything?"

Jab. Jab. Hook. Cross. The bag groaned a little at the increased power behind his hits.

"I see," Natasha said, clearly not missing the bag's protests.

"Why didn't you tell us you knew?" Bucky countered, not taking his eyes off the bag and ignoring the insinuations that hung in the air.

"Knew what?"

"Playing dumb doesn't suit you."

Bucky caught Natasha's shrug in the mirror. "Steve's room was bugged. It wasn't safe to discuss when we didn't know how far this thing went."

"No, I got that," Bucky replied. "Why didn't you say anything when Darcy told us the truth? You let her twist out there all on her own. And because she's a better person than the rest of us, she let you do it."

"Why does it bother you?"

Jab. Jab. Cross.

_ PING. _

The chain gave way as the force behind Bucky's hit broke the bag and sent it flying across the room as he ducked to avoid the chain that snapped back at him. He turned to Natasha, who raised an eyebrow at him.

"You have a funny way of showing you care."

"I could say the same about you," he countered.

"I've at least been to see her. Apologize for taking so long to figure out HYDRA's plan. For missing our giant security lapse and putting her in that position in the first place. Sam's seen her, Steve's seen her. Bob made her brownies. Everyone's been by. Everyone except for you. You really think she hasn't noticed?"

Bucky sighed and yanked off his gloves, tossing them in the bin to be cleaned. "What do you want from me?"

"Me?" Natasha shrugged. "Nothing."

He paused in unwrapping his hands and rolled his eyes toward the ceiling.

"Darcy might want to hear from her friend though. Might be wondering where he'd run off to. You two are friends, right? You seemed pretty cozy this week."

"You weren't even-" Bucky cut himself off as he tossed the wraps into the bin to follow his gloves. He knew better than to take Natasha's bait.

"She's in the lab right now, by the way." Natasha continued. "Packing."

He spun around to face her. "Packing?"

Natasha's smirk was bitter. "If you'd stopped by recently, you might have heard that there's a lab move coming. More space, upgraded equipment, the works."

"Darcy's...leaving?" He made to move towards the locker room. He could clean up quickly, get over to the lab. Find Darcy.

Natasha was in front of him in a flash and kicked him in the shin. Pain exploded in his leg and he doubled over with it, eyes watering.

"Nat, what the f-"

"Where was this Bucky for the last week?"

"I spent a week thinking two of my closest friends were engaged and never told me," he spat at her. "A week chastising myself for feeling things that I shouldn't feel and all of the guilt that goes along with that. Then I come to find out that it was all a lie, because I was too blind to notice a systemic weakness and someone I care about had to put herself through the absolute shit to pull us all out of it!" Bucky was shouting at Natasha now and couldn't bring himself to care. "I don't have a lid on it on the best of days, so you'll have to forgive me for taking some time to work through it all."

Natasha considered him for a moment. "You were working through it."

"Yes."

"You weren't hiding."

"I was kinda hiding, yeah. Mostly to avoid this precise conversation."

Natasha ignored his flippant comment. "Then you should probably get your ass over there before she's done packing."


	18. Chapter 18

Darcy smoothed the tape over the box seam, checking to make sure it was secure before scribbling a label on the top with the marker she kept stored in her messy bun. The clip on the marker cap snagged on one of her curls as she tugged the marker free, surely messing up the style even more, but she was too tired to care. It was just the lab - who was she going to see anyway? And even if she did, what did she care? It was moving day. Anyone who judges on moving day deserved to step on a Lego barefoot forever.

“I can’t believe this is the end,” Jane said, as she leaned against the box she’d just finished packing.

Darcy laughed. “What end?”

Jane shrugged. “The end of you and me. Science bros.”

Darcy looked at her in confusion. “Again - what end?” She shook her head. “You’re being dramatic.”

“I’m not!” Jane insisted. “I’m going to miss you.”

“You’re going to talk to me literally  _ every day. _ ”

Jane pointed at her and attempted her best threatening glare. She was  _ adorable _ . “You’d better.” 

Bob wandered in with an empty dolly, ready to take the last of the boxes out to the truck. “I can’t believe this is the end.”

Darcy tilted her head back with a sigh of exasperation and gave in to her friends’ theatrics. “Aw come here, you big drama queens.” Darcy wrapped both of her friends up in a giant hug. They stayed huddled together for a minute and Darcy could feel her own eyes welling up with tears.

It wasn’t the end. It  _ wasn’t _ .

But it wasn’t going to be the same either.

The sound of a knock on the glass caused all three of them to break apart and look toward the window into the hall. Bucky was standing there, his hands pressed against the glass and a desperate look on his face.

“Seriously,” Darcy muttered, her voice flat. After a week of  _ nothing _ from him, he had the audacity to show up now? She had been wondering - if she were honest,  _ hoping _ \- if he’d thought about her at all this week. She’d seen everyone else - why not him? Sure, before all the nonsense with the hospital, it wasn’t like they saw each other all the time, but...they’d been friends, right? And they’d gotten closer this week. Once she’d gotten some decent sleep in an actual bed, all of her doom and gloom predictions that Bucky would never speak to her again in the aftermath seemed silly. But as the week had gone on...well, a girl had to wonder.

So why show up now?

Jane glared at him. “He picks  _ now _ to come by?”

“Want me to toss him out?” Bob asked. He puffed up a little with bravado, but Darcy caught the nervous twitch of his eye towards the window. 

She loved her loyal,  _ ridiculous _ friends so much her heart could burst.

“No, it’s okay.” She wandered over to the intercom that would allow her to talk to Bucky without exiting the lab and pressed the button. More than a few butterflies took up a samba in her stomach as she gave him a tentative smile. “Hi.”

“Darcy…” His eyes flicked to the boxes that were waiting to be taken out to the truck.

Darcy finally got a good look at him. He was a mess. “Did you  _ run _ here?”

“You’re packed.”

Darcy looked over her shoulder at the boxes and saw Jane giving her a ‘need me to stay?’ kind of look. “Janey, why don’t you and Bob finish taking everything out? I’ll be with you in a minute.”

Jane gave Bucky one last wary look. “Okay Darce.” She stacked another box on top of the dolly, then led Bob out the back of the lab to the loading dock.

“Can I come in there, please?” Bucky’s voice was hesitant and pleading and dammit why did he have this effect on her heart. She might love him, but she still kinda wanted to be mad at him for ghosting her this week. Not like screaming at him angry, more like glaring at him from across the room angry. For another day at least. 

She shook her head. “No.”

Bucky visibly deflated. “Oh.” He looked down as his hands slid silently from the glass. “Okay,” he breathed. “I’ll...I’ll go then.”

Darcy’s resolve crumbled in the face of Bucky’s defeat. She pressed the button to talk to him again.

“Not without protective gear. It’s still a level 1 lab, and you’re not dressed for it.” Darcy nodded at the rack on the wall next to the entrance. Bucky eyes lit up and he scrambled to throw on a pair of protective pants and a long sleeve over his - were those his workout clothes? What the hell?

If this was just a perfunctory “okay last week sucked, and I’m sorry, you’re sorry, everyone’s sorry, thanks for saving the world, now let’s move on” visit like she’d gotten from just about everyone else - why was Bucky in such a state?

Would her life ever make sense?

_ Did you really want it to? _

“Shush brain,” she whispered to herself, trying to psych herself up for whatever this conversation was going to be. 

Bucky stood in front of the lab door, looking like he was ready to try moving it with his mind or just punch through the thing if she didn’t buzz him in soon. She gave him a once over, making sure he had at least the minimum amount of protective gear on.

Workout clothes. Honestly.

She pushed the button to unlock the door. Bucky was practically vibrating as the door slowly slid open. He pushed inside as soon the door would physically allow it. He stopped just short of her, standing in front of her and staring. Darcy didn’t have a clue what he was looking for, but had half a wish in the back of her head that she hasn’t been using her hair as a way to store extra pens. She probably looked like she’d been attacked by a flock of birds.

“I’m sorry,” Bucky blurted out.

Darcy’s heart leapt, but he wasn’t getting off that easy. “For what?”

A bitter laugh escaped him. “So many things,” he muttered. “For not realizing what was going on in the hospital. For putting you in that position in the first place.”

Well...that was something. Not exactly what she  _ wanted _ , but. “Bucky, that’s-”

Bucky cut her off with a wry, self-deprecating grin. “It  _ is _ partially my fault, Darce. I’m the one who’s always poking at our procedures around here, looking for the holes - making holes just so we can reinforce weak spots, ripping out entire sections of protocol to keep our adversaries guessing. I should have realized the hospital was a weakness and I didn’t. Because of that, you were put in a terrible position.” His eyes bore into her, his gaze so intense she couldn’t look away. “ _ Thank you _ for doing what you did. It couldn’t have been easy.”

“It wasn’t a picnic,” she agreed.

He nodded. “I’d like to try to make it up to you, if you’ll let me.”

Darcy folded her arms across her chest, putting a small barrier between them. His apology was great and all - and warranted - but it wasn’t  _ all _ she needed to hear from him. And honestly, wasn’t what she wanted. But what she wanted and what was on offer weren’t the same thing, so she’d deal with it - starting by putting this tiny bit of distance between them. “You can start by explaining where you’ve been this week.”

Bucky hung his head and sighed. His eyes caught on his defensive posture and he nodded slightly before looking back to her with that same intense expression in his eyes. 

“I’m sorry about that, too. I…” He closed his eyes and appeared to grit his teeth a little. “I needed to process. I shouldn’t have left you hanging, you’re my friend and I just…”

The poor guy looked about ready to vibrate out of his skin, so Darcy put him out of his misery. “Bucky. Look at me.” When he opened his eyes, she continued. “I get it. It was an emotional week. And I kinda dropped a bit of a bomb there at the end. Next time, just tell me you need some time okay?”

“Next time?”

“Well, okay, I’m not planning on doing  _ that  _ ever again, but you know. If you need some time for you. Just give me a sign so I don’t go thinking the worst?”

Bucky nodded. “I can do that.”

“Okay.”

His eyes flicked to the boxes again. What was his deal with the boxes? He looked a little like he was warring with himself and he made a tiny, uncharacteristic noise of frustration before finally looking back to her.

“Don’t go.”

“Uh...huh?” She could win awards for her eloquence.

“Don’t go,” he repeated. “Or...I don’t know, don’t go just yet. Give me a few days, I’ll throw my stuff in a bag and go with you.”

“Go…Bucky, I don’t-”

“Please,” he pleaded. “Look, I know I’m not the easiest person to be around. But, we’re friends. I think you like me. Enough to deal with my bullshit for a bit anyway. And...that day. That day two weeks ago when I pulled you out of the panic room. Before we got blown up, I was tryin’ to ask you…”

Bucky wasn’t making a whole lot of sense to her brain, but her foolish heart perked up. “Trying to ask me what?” she prompted.

“I was tryin’ to ask you...on a date. Dinner or maybe a movie, or something. Whatever you wanted.”

“A date.”

“I know you’ve probably never thought of me like that, but I was hoping that maybe…” His voice trailed off as his shoulders slumped. 

Wait, why were his shoulders slumping?

_ MAYDAY! GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER LEWIS! _

“Where am I going?” she asked, instead of anything that remotely made sense.

“What?”

She rubbed her eyes. “Let’s go back to the beginning.” 

“Okay.”

“You said ‘don’t go’ and then ‘wait to go so you can follow’ or something like that. Where am I going?”

Bucky looked at the boxes filling the lab. “I...don’t know? But you packed the lab and-”

“Yeah, the lab is moving.”

“Don’t go.”

“Oh my god.” She buried her head in her hands and Bucky stepped a little closer and rubbed her arms soothingly. 

“We’re bad at this,” he muttered.

“You think?” she snapped, although there wasn’t any heat behind it. “Where do you think the lab is moving?”

Bucky stilled. “I...hadn’t thought about it.”

Darcy nodded. “The  _ lab _ is moving to the new science annex about 20 minutes from here.  _ Jane _ is going with the lab.  _ I _ will still be working out of Avengers HQ for the foreseeable future, because my work is here, whereas hers is more field based.”

“So...no one’s moving to Latveria?”

“Not until Doom starts returning my calls.”

“Wakanda?”

“No - Bucky, I love you, but I’m not upending my life because I’m heartbroken over the  _ lack _ of you. Sheesh. Give me some credit here, this isn’t some 90s-era Sandra Bullock romcom. I didn’t lose the boy and then decide to quit my job and move away because of it.” She felt her face flush - she hadn’t meant to get quite that honest with him, but oh well. It was out there now. 

It kinda felt good, actually.

Bucky was incredibly still. “What boy did you lose?”

“Bucky-”

“How did you lose him?”

Darcy glared at him. “Well, I told him the truth and he disappeared for a week, so do the math.”

Bucky fervently shook his head. “You didn’t lose him.”

“Not from where I’m standing.”

“Then open your eyes because from where  _ you’re _ standing,  _ he’s _ standing right in front of you!” Bucky took a breath to compose himself. “You were talking about me, right?

“You’re an idiot.” Darcy couldn’t stop the fondness from seeping into her tone.

Bucky nodded. “Any chance I might have the opportunity to be _your_ idiot, though?”

Darcy smiled up and him and tugged him close so she could reach his lips. “I might have an opening.”


	19. Epilogue

“You ready for this?” Darcy asked.

Bucky pulled her close and touched his forehead to hers, closing his eyes. “Give me just another second. I don’t want to share you.”

Darcy grinned. “You never want to share me.”

“Doubly true today though.”

“Yeah, well. If we don’t get in there soon, I’m pretty sure someone is going to start a riot.”

Bucky sighed and pressed a kiss to her temple before opening his eyes. “Why did we agree to this again?”

Darcy laughed. “We got away with a courthouse wedding and the absolute  _ bare minimum _ of witnesses. It’s not too much for our friends to ask us to show up to a celebratory dinner.”

“I disagree.”

“Grump.”

“Your grump.”

“Damn straight. Now, buck up husband and pretend to be happy.” Darcy turned to enter the private dining room, but Bucky caught her wrist and pulled her back.

“I  _ am _ happy,” he murmured. “Please don’t think I’m not. I just don’t like sharing your attention.”

Darcy nodded. “I know. You’re greedy that way.”

“Like you’re any better.”

Darcy grinned again, leaning up and placing a soft kiss on his lips. “Never claimed to be.” She turned again and went to the door. Just as she was about to open it, she paused and reached back, holding out her hand.

“Together?”

Bucky grasped it, lacing their fingers together. “Always.”

A cheer went up from their friends as they entered the room. Darcy jolted in surprise, stumbling back into Bucky. He caught her easily and steadied her, brushing a kiss into her hair. 

“I’ve got you,” he murmured next to her ear. 

Darcy smiled, both at her frankly adorable husband and at their collection of friends who were now engaged in some friendly shoving to get to them first. 

Natasha won, because of course she did. She leaned up on her toes to give Bucky a peck on the cheek then pulled Darcy into a hug.

“Congratulations,” she said. “And you’re welcome.”

Darcy could feel Bucky tense up slightly. Darcy leveled a look at Natasha before he could say anything. “For what, exactly?”

“The push. I am a good friend.”

“Uh huh,” Darcy agreed with an indulgent smile. “The very best. And as a thank you, I think I’ll return the favor.” Natasha blinked as Darcy leaned in close enough to whisper. “Don’t think I don’t know about you and you-know-who.”

Natasha leaned away from Darcy slowly and gave her an appraising look. 

“Scary, isn’t she?” Bucky said, pride seeping into his voice as he wrapped an arm around Darcy.

Natasha backed away without another word and went to sit down at the table next to Sam, who was patiently waiting for all the fuss to die down. 

Steve walked into the dining room, a little late after getting caught by a few well-meaning fans at the courthouse who begged him to be their witness. He clapped Bucky on the shoulder.

“What’d I miss?”

Darcy smiled at him. “Nothing yet.”

“Yo Steve, what’s the plan if HYDRA ever tries to steal you from a hospital again?” Clint called from the far side of the table. “Darcy’s taken now.”

“I VOLUNTEER!” Bob yelled, too loud for the room. Everyone turned silently to stare at him and he shrugged. “They’d never expect it.”

“There you go,” Darcy said. “Problem solved. Buck, write that one down, we’ve got a plan.”

“It is more of a plan than you had,” Bucky deadpanned. Darcy stifled a laugh - she was well aware that there was now a 47 page emergency procedure with eight contingencies for that very scenario and exactly none of them involved anyone pretending to marry Steve.

“I don’t get paid enough to write the plans,” she joked. “Okay, let’s get this show on the road. I was promised champagne and pasta and I am seeing neither at the moment.”

Everyone settled into seats and passed around bottles of champagne and fizzy water, the bubbles in the drinks reminiscent of the excitement in the air. Darcy leaned into Bucky’s side, smiling as she looked around at her friends. The moment was absolutely perfect in her opinion - everything she’d ever wanted.

“You look happy,” Bucky murmured in her ear.

“I  _ am _ happy,” she replied, looking back at him. “Are you happy?”

He gave her a soft smile. “I am very happy.”

“Okay everybody, look this way!” Jane called, jumping up and holding up her camera. “On three, everybody raise a glass for Darcy and Bucky. One, two, three!”

Their small group roared with approval. “Cheers!” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We did it! We reached the end! Thank you for tagging along with me. 
> 
> Let's yell about superheroes together. I'm [@seibelsays](https://seibelsays.tumblr.com) on tumblr (and just about everywhere else) or [@seibelsays-andwrites](https://seibelsays-andwrites.tumblr.com) if you're interested in other things I'm writing.
> 
> Until next time, may all your favorite bands stay together.  
<3 seibelsays


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